Bharat Pensioners
Samaj Draft Reply to 7th CPC questionnaire for comments & Suggestions
highlighting OROP, FMA, NPS Withdrawal, Merger of DR, Exemption from IT etc.
Ms Meena Agarwal
Secretary
GOI Seventh Central Pay
Commission
Post Box No 4599 Hause Khas
P.O. New Delhi -110016
e.mail: secy-7cpc@nic.in
Madam,
Subject:
7th Questionnaire
‘Bharat Pensioners
Samaj’. One of the identified Pensioners Federation by GOI M/O Personnel, PG & Pensions-DOPPW and a stake holder. In its capacity
as one of the oldest & largest Pensioners Organization with over 500
Affiliated associations, submits here under reply to items Nos 10.1 & 10.1.2 under the head ‘Pension’ in the
questionnaire
However, as Pension is not
independent of Salary suggestions for basic structure are for Salary/Pension.
Item No 10.1 New pension Scheme i.e The retirement benefits of all Central Government employees appointed on or
after 1.1.2004 are covered by the New Pension Scheme (NPS). What has
been the experience of the NPS in the last decade?
Withdraw
New Pension Scheme: for following reasons:
(i) Pension of
Govt. employees is a deferred wage. Since wage paid out to them during the course of
work tenure is kept low by design, to cater for pension.
(ii) He/She forgoes
with interest 8.33% of govt. matching contribution to PF.
(iii) Pension is a social security measure &
cannot be subjected in any way to Market risks (iii) It does not guarantee
minimum return & thus lacks the basic fiber of Social Security Scheme (iv).
It is in no way better than the existing Scheme (vi)It does not provide
guaranteed Family Pension to dependents & disabled siblings which exist in
present scheme, even in case of spouse & dependent parents where death of
the employee occur in early years of service there is no adequate social
security.
Item 10.1.2 i.e. As for as pre 2004 appointees are concerned,
what should be the principles that govern the structure of pension and
retirement benefits?
Basic
structure of Pay/ Pension
1. Keeping in view the Socialistic structure
of the country , constitutional provisions & to reduce vast inequality between have & have lots, it
is proposed: The Ratio between
maximum & minimum of Salary/ Pension be brought down to 9:1. Ensuring uniformly equal rise in
Salary/Pension of all employees/pensioners, irrespective of pre- retiral
status. By adoptingcommon multiplication factor for revision of Pension/Pay, as raising the ratio between
minimum & maximum of salary/pension to 1:12.85 by 6thCPC , instead of reducing it, was
unconstitutional .
In order to cater
to the need of talent attraction in all cadres 7th pay commission is requested to first workout the top most revised salary/pension,
divide it by 9 to arrive at the minimum revised salary & then derive a
uniform multiplication factor by
dividing minimum of revised Salary/Pension by minimum of pre-revised
salary/Pension for revision of Pay & Pension with the condition that
Pension shall not in any case be less than 65% & family Pension 45% of the
last Pay in Pay Band i.e. Pay in Pay
Band+ GP /Pay scale or of average of
last 10 months emoluments (Whichever is more beneficial) as was worked out
& recommended by TECS (Tata Economic Consultancy Services) consultant to Vth CPC (Para 127.9 Vol III 5th
CPC report)
2.One Rank one pension: ‘Justice must be
equal for all’. Otherwise, it breeds contempt, discontentment, inefficiency,
corruption & finally the insurgency. We have seen it happening in Tribal
areas of N.E, Chhatishgarh, Jharkand, Orisa, MP etc.
Vast inequality of
income and wealth between lowest & the highest paid, violation of Article
14 has already induced contempt, discontent, inefficiency & corruption, in
Civil services.
Govt. granted One
Rank One Pension (OROP) to Armed forces, Judges granted it to themselves even a
period of private practice of lawyer judges, to be counted towards qualifying
service. Higher Bureaucracy got it through modified parity. All other Central Govt. employees &
Pensioners are definitely not the 2nd grade citizens! One Rank one Pension to all retirees is
constitutional requirement to ensure equality.
Defence Pensioners: As far as Armed forces are
concerned they do the supreme sacrifice for the country & must be the
highest paid .For them the ratio between highest & lowest paid must not be
more than 1:5 and instead of being thrown out at an early age they must be
transferred to paramilitary/police force after active tenure in armed forces.
Otherwise, if these retired army personnel trained in all sort of weaponry are
left uncared, they may fall prey to undesirable anti National outfits. In their
case it is also essential that retirees from uniformed cadre & civilian
defence Pensioners are treated at Par for all purpose
2.Dearness relief : 100% neutralization
with automatic Merger with Pension whenever it goes to 50% :The Pension of Central Government Pensioners
undergo revision only once in 10 years during which period the pension
structure gets seriously dis-aligned; 50% increase in price takes place even in
less than 5 years. This results in considerable erosion of the financial
position of the pensioner. DR does not adequately take care of inflation at
this level. Working employees are getting automatic relief by way of 25%
increase in their allowances with every 50% rise in Dearness Allowance. As
pensioners do not get any allowances, they feel discriminated against. In order
to strike a balance, DR may be automatically merged with Pension whenever it
goes to 50% .
3.Additional old age Pension : 5% upward enhancement in pension be granted
every five years’ after the age of 60
years & upto 80 years & thereafter as per existing dispensation. As in the present scenario of climatic
changes, incidence of pesticides and rising pollution old age
disabilities/diseases set in by the time an employee retires and go on
manifesting very fast, needing additional finances to take care of these
disabilities and diseases, especially as the cost of health care has gone very
high.
4. Pension to be net of Income Tax : The purchase value of pension gets reduced
day by day due to continuously high inflation and steep rise in cost of food
items and medical
facilities. Retired persons/Senior citizens do not enjoy fully public goods and
services provided by Government for citizens due to lack of mobility and many
other factors. Their ability to pay tax gets reduced from year to year after retirement due to ever-increasing
expenditure on food and medicines and other incidentals. Their net worth at
year end gets reduced considerably as compared to the beginning of the year.
Inflation, for a pensioner is much more than any tax. It erodes the major part
of the already inadequate pension. To enable pensioners, at the far end of
their lives, to live in minimum comfort and to cater for ever rising cost of
living, they may be spared from paying Income Tax.
5. Restoration of commuted value of Pension in
12 years: Commutation value in respect of employee superannuating at the
age of 60 years between 1.1.1996 and 31.12.2005 and commuting a portion of
pension within a period of one year would be equal to 9.81 years Purchase.
After adding thereto a further period of two years for recovery of interest, in
terms of observation of Supreme Court in their judgment in writ petitions No
395-61 of 1983 decided in December 1986, it would be reasonable to restore
commuted portion of pension in 12 years instead of present 15 years. In case of
persons superannuating at the age of 60 years after 31.12.2005 and seeking
commutation within a year, numbers of purchase years have been further reduced
to 8.194. Also, the mortality rate of 60 plus Indians has considerably reduced
ever since Supreme Court judgment in 1986; the life expectancy stands at 76 years now. Therefore,
restoration of commuted value of Pension after 12 years is fully justified.
6. The 6th Central Pay Commission’s improved
benefits, e.g. full pension for 20 years of service/10 years in
superannuation cases, last pay drawn or average of last 10 months’ pay
whichever is beneficial to the retiring employee as emoluments for computation
of pension etc., have been limited only to post-1.1.2006 retirees. This is in violation of the letter and spirit
of Hon’ble Apex Court judgment in Nakara Case.
We appeal to the 7th CPC to extend the above benefits to all
pre-1.1.2006 retirees with monetary benefit from 1.1.2006 to do them equal
justice. And that new/improved benefits which 7th CPC may recommend, too be
made equally applicable to present & past pensioners
7..Medical facilities: “Health is not a
luxury” and “not be the sole possession of a privileged few”. It is a
Fundamental Right of all present & past Employees!
To ensure hassle free health care facility to
Pensioners/family pensioners, Smart Cards be issued irrespective of departments
to all Pensioners and their Dependents for cashless medical facilities across the
country. These smart cards should be valid in
· all Govt. hospitals
· all NABH accredited
Multi Super Specialty hospitals across the country which have been allotted land at concessional rate or
given any aid or concession by the Central or the State govt.
· all CGHS, RELHS
& ECHS empanelled hospitals across the country.
· Medical attendants.
For reimbursement of bills for treatment
& for hospitalization . No referral should be insisted in case of medical
emergencies. For the purpose of reference for hospitalization &
reimbursement of expenditure thereon in other than emergency cases Doctors/Medical
officers working in different Central/State Govt. department
dispensaries/health units should be recognized as Authorized medical attendant.
The enjoyment of
the highest attainable standard of health is recognized as a fundamental right
of all workers in terms of Article 21 read with Article 39(c), 41, 43, 48A and
all related Articles as pronounced by the Supreme Court in Consumer Education
and Research Centre & Others vs Union of India (AIR 1995 Supreme Court 922)
The Supreme court has held that the right to health to a worker is an integral
facet of meaningful right to life to have not only a meaningful existence but
also robust health and vigour. Therefore, the right to health, medical aid to
protect the health and vigour of a worker while in service or post retirement
is a fundamental right-to make life of a worker meaningful and purposeful with
dignity of person. Thus health care is
not only a welfare measure but is a Fundamental Right.
We suggest that, all the pensioners, irrespective of pre-retiral class
and status, be treated as same category of citizens and the same homogenous
group. There should be no class or category based discrimination and all must
be provided Health care services at par .
8. Hospital Regulatory Authority: To
ensure that the hospitals do not avoid providing reasonable care to smartcard holders and other poor
citizens, a Hospital Regulatory Authority should be created to bring all
NABH-accredited hospitals and NABL-accredited diagnostic Labs under its
constant monitoring of quality, rates for different procedures & timely bill payments by Govt. agencies
and Insurance companies. CGHS rates be revised keeping in mind the workability
and market conditions.
9.Fixed Medical allowance (FMA): As is
recorded in Para 5 of the minutes of Committee of Secretaries (COS) held on
15.04.2010 (Reference Cabinet Secretariat, Rashtrapati Bhavan No 502/2/3/2010-C.A.V Doc No. CD
(C.A.V) 42/2010 Minutes of COS meeting dated 15.4.2010) which discussed
enhancement of FMA: CGHS card estimates for serving Personnel since estimates
are not available separately for pensioners M/O Health & Family Welfare had
assessed the total cost per card p.a. in 2007-2008 = Rs 16435 i.e. Rs.1369 per
month for OPD. Adding to its inflation the figure today is well over Rs 2000/-
PM. Ministry of Labour & Employment, Govt. of India vide its letter no.
G-25012/2/2011-SSI dated 07.06.2013 has already enhanced FMA to Rs 2000/- PM
for EPFO beneficiaries. Thus, to help elderly pensioners to look after their health,
Adequate raise in FMA will encourage a good number of pensioners to opt out of
OPD facility which will reduce overcrowding in hospitals. OPD through Insurance
will cost much more to the Govt. As such the proposal for raising Fixed Medical
allowance to Pensioners is fully justified and is financially viable.
We suggest that FMA for all C.G. Pensioners be raised to at least Rs
2000/- PM without any distance restriction linking it to Dearness Relief for
automatic further increase. We further demand that FMA be exempted from INCOME
TAX: Fixed Medical Allowance (FMA) is a compensatory allowance to reimburse
the medical expenses. As Medical Reimbursement is not taxable, FMA should also
be exempted from Income Tax.
10.Grievance redressal Mechanism:
Pensioners/Family Pensioners are exploited, harassed and humiliated by their
own counterparts in chair, who at the sight of an old person adopt a wooden
face and indifferent attitude. Pensioners do not have representation even in
Forums & Committees wherein pension policies and connected matters are
discussed. The forum of Pension Adalat too is not of much avail as it meets
only once a year which is too long a period for an elderly nearer to his end.
Moreover, these Adalats deal with settlement claims only. SCOVA too meets only
twice a year for about 3 hours at each occasion. Moreover, the scope of SCOVA
is limited to feedback on Government policies. DOP (P&PW) is perceived as a
toothless authority which lacks direct Service Delivery Capability. It has been
striving over the years to redress the Pensioners’ grievances through the ‘Sevottam’
model of the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public grievances; in
the absence of strict timeline with punitive clause it is, however, proving to
be a failure. Grievances are either not resolved for years or closed
arbitrarily without resolving.
We therefore, appeal that for resolving Pensioners complaints of all
pensioners,
(i) A strict time
line with punitive clause be introduced in “Sevottam model”
(ii) Grievances are
not allowed to be closed without resolving.
(iii) SCOVA be
upgraded to JCM level covering all Pensioners by introducing suitable
legislative amendment if required.
11. Representations in various committees :
As recommended vide Vth CPC report Vol
III para 141.30 Pensioners’ representatives should be included in various
committees & other Fora of Govt where issues relating to the welfare of
pensioners are likely to be discussed &debated: Discussing, debating
and deciding the matters / Policies relating to Pensioners, with
representatives other than those of pensioners, is unfair & against the
Rules of ‘Natural Justice’. At present various Committees like National Anomaly
Committee (NAC) and JCM (on Pensioner matters), are there wherein matters /
policies relating to pensioners’ welfare are discussed and decided, but they do
not have pensioners’ representatives with the result their viewpoints,
hardships & anomalies are not properly represented. As pensioners are a
homogenous class, there is an urgent need to constitute separate Committees for
pensioners wherein matters / policies / anomalies relating to pensioners of all
Groups, categories &departments may be discussed.
With regards
Truly Yours,
ER.S.C.Maheshwari
Secy.Genl. Bharat
Pensioners Samaj
NOO
Copy: Sh.Shiv Gopal Mishra Secretay JCM
(Staff side) for necessary favourable action.
S.C.Maheshwari
Secy. Genl. BPS
Courtesy
: http://karnmk.blogspot.in/
