Retired employees win pension war in SC, but hit government wall
MUMBAI: Three decades after their battle began, and despite a victory in
the Supreme Court in September, several thousand retired central
government employees are yet to get their pension restored.
Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Unwilling to let the octogenarians celebrate, the Centre filed a review
petition in the top court last month and decided to implement the
restoration subject to its outcome. The Union ministry of personnel,
public grievances and pensions issued an office memorandum on December
21to give former central government employees who had litigated for
years, including K Ganesan, a spearheading litigant who died during the
process, this bittersweet news.
The issue centres around a pension rule that permitted central
government employees to shift en masse from the 1960s to the 1980s to
public sector undertakings (PSUs) that needed experienced workers at the
time. To aid and promote the move, the Centre allowed the employees to
avail of 100% lump sum pension in advance for 15 years. The rules had
till then permitted a partial onethird commutation. Acomplicated formula
is at work for pension calculations.Essentially, such employees who had
claimed a lump sum upfront in a particular year, went on to fight for
restoration of pension (effectively arrears) as per service years, after
accounting for the lump sum payment made earlier. The issue was a fight
against effective downgrade of pension slabs.
Several legal battles ensued, beginning in 1983. In 1987, the SC first
allowed one-third restoration for Central govern ment employees after a
15-year period, and a decade later extended the benefit to those who had
shifted to PSUs.
K Ganesan, who was with the finance ministry and in 1986 moved to BHEL, a
PSU, after availing of lump sum pension in advance, launched a fight in
the Madras high court.In 2007, the court upheld the plea. It
significantly held that the Centre cannot wipe away the rights of an
employee for restoration. It said an employee remains a pensioner under
the Pensions Act, 1871. Navi Mumbai resident Satish Kate, part of
another association and who worked with the Indian Bureau of Mines and
retired in 2006 from Indian Oil Corporation, is among those awaiting
restoration."Many of the 7,000-odd pensioners are aged over 80. They may
not live to enjoy pension in their lifetime if the legal battle
continues," he said. "The SC order applies to all of us who were
absorbed by PSUs.The PM heads the ministry of personnel, public
grievances and pension."
