The
Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Thursday ordered notice to
the Centre on a public interest litigation petition that sought
direction to the government to ensure an assured monthly pension under
the New Pension Scheme to retired Central government employees, which
was not less than 50% of the last drawn pay on retirement.
The
petitioner, a retired government employee, G. Chinnadurai of
Tirunelveli district, said that under the New Pension Scheme, there was
no minimum assured pension for the pensioners. As per the scheme, 10 %
of the pay and dearness allowance was recovered from employees and an
equal amount of contribution was made by the government.
In
2019, the government’s contribution was increased to 14 % of the pay
and dearness allowance. After superannuation, 60% of the accumulations
will be paid to the employee and the balance 40 % will be utilised for
the purchase of annuities and amount that accrues out of the annuities
would be paid to the applicant as monthly pension, he said.
He
said that the contributions are invested in markets through fund
managers and the fund is managed by the Pension Fund Regulatory and
Development Authority. It was mandatory for the employees. It was left
to the market to decide the monthly pension that will accrue to the
employee. This was affecting the retired life of the employees, the
petitioner said.
The
petitioner said that he filed the petition as he was suffering
financially due to the adverse implications of the scheme. Steps must be
taken to ensure minimum financial security for the retired government
employees, he said.
A
Division Bench of Justices T. S. Sivagnanam and S. Ananthi ordered
notice to the Centre and sought response. The court granted time to the
Centre to file the counter affidavit and adjourned the case till April
28.
Source
:
https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Madurai/hc-seeks-centres-response-to-plea-on-new-pension-scheme/article34328617.ece
