NATIONAL CO-ORINATION COMMITTEE
OF PENSIONERS ASSOCIATIONS.
13/c Feroze shah
Road,
New Delhi. 110 001
Dated: 20-01-2017.
Dear
Comrades,
We give
hereunder a brief note over the developments that have taken place in last 2-3
months.
1.
Pension determination formula: 7th
CPC.
Despite our
best efforts, we have not been able to carry conviction with the Pension Department to act up on the 7th
CPC recommendation pertaining to Option
No.1. This has crashed the hope and aspiration nurtured by a large no of
pensioners especially after the 7th CPC report was out. The JCM
Staff Side had, as you are aware, held meetings with Department of Pension when
an alternate suggestion was mooted by
the official side. As the alternative
suggestion will indeed benefit a section
of Pensioners, we requested that the same may be taken as the 3rd
option. It is now clear that the
Pension department has submitted its report rejecting option No.1 as infeasible
to the cabinet and the Cabinet assent is awaited.. In this situation we feel
that all affiliated associations and federations must advise their units to
hold Demonstration on 15th February
2017 and send the following communication to the (1) Honourable Prime
Minister, (2) Honourable Minister of State for Personnel, (3) Honourable
Finance Minister, (4) Cabinet Secretary,
(5) Secretary Pension, Department of Pension and Pensioner Welfare, and
(6) The Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training. We have appended to this letter the format of
the communications to be sent to the Prime Minister and others.
2. One
day Token Strike on 16th March, 2017 by the Confederation and its
affiliates.
As you aware
the Confederation had earlier decided to Organize a one day strike on 15.02.2017
in view of thee total inaction on the part of the Govt. to honour the agreement
reached with the Staff side JCM on 30th June 2016 and confirmed in writing on 06.07.2016. The said
one day strike has been now postponed to 16.03.2017 on account of the
declaration of Election schedules by the Election Commission for the States of
UP, UK, Goa, Manipur and Punjab. The Present NDA Government has exhibited the
worst anti-employee attitude. Not a
single issue projected by the JCM Staff side on behalf of the pensioners and
employees was considered favorably. In
the name of consideration of the demands, the allowances have been withheld to be implemented. All the Committees set up by the Government
in the wake of the 7th CPC recommendations had only been indulging
in dilatory tactics and no worthwhile negotiations was held
with the employees organisations. It was in this background that the the National JCA met on 17.1.2017 at
Delhi. Though the revival of the deferred strike action was discussed no final
decision could be taken. The leader and Secretary have now been requested to
interact with the Hon’ble Ministers and reconvene the NJCA once again. The
letters written in this regard by Secretary Staff side are enclosed.
3.
NPS Committee.
The Govt. has
setup a committee as per the recommendation of the 7th CPC to streamline
the NPS in view of the plethora of
complaints lodged against it by the
stoke holders before the Commission.. The first meeting of the said committee
was held on 20th January 2016. The written submissions made by the Staff side
Secretary are enclosed. It is likely that the committee will hear the Staff side
once again. In order to enable the Staff
side to submit an elaborate memorandum it has been decided that a meeting of
all the National Council members must be held soon. We have also been requested to present our
proposal for consideration and incorporation.
To enable us to submit a cogent and well prepared document, we request
you to kindly send us your suggestions in the matter before 5th Feb.
2017.
With
greetings,
Yours fraternally,
K.K.N.Kutty
Secretary General.
Format
of the letter to be addressed to the Honourable Prime Minister and Others.
To
The
Hon’ble Prime Minister
Government
of India,
South
Block,
New Delhi.
110 001.
Respected Sir,
On behalf of the Pensioners, who are
our members, we are to bring to your kind notice that the Central Government
pensioners throughout the country are extremely distressed on coming to know
that the Pension and Pensioners Welfare Department of the Government of India
has finalized and made their submissions to the Cabinet suggesting inter alia
that the recommendation made by the 7th CPC in respect of pension
determination under Option No. 1. be rejected on the specious ground that the
said recommendation is infeasible to be acted upon.
In this connection we send herewith a
copy of the submissions made by the Staff Side of the JCM on our behalf which
may please be considered before a final decision in the matter is taken by the
Cabinet. For the detailed reasons
advanced in the said Note, the decision of the Department of Pension to reject
the said recommendations, even though the same has been accepted by the
Government and notified, is not only unfortunate but also not tenable. The said suggestion of the Department of
Pension, if acted upon, will crush the hope and aspiration generated in the
minds of lakhs of pensioners for a reasonable pension, which the 7th
CPC considered and granted.
We, therefore, appeal to your good
self that the proposal of the Pension Department, which is presently pending consideration
of the Cabinet, may not be accepted and instead the recommendation of the 7th
CPC granting option No.1 be acted upon.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
Name:
Designation:
Copy of letter addressed to Shri
Rajnath Singh, Honourable Home Minister by Com. Shivgopal Misra, Secretary,
Staff Side, JCM. Dated 17th Jan. 2017.
Dear Sir,
We solicit your kind reference to the
discussion the Staff Side delegation had with you and your esteemed colleagues
in the Cabinet – Hon’ble Finance Minister, Railway Ministers – on 3oth June 206
and subsequently with your good self on 6th July 2016. In the light
of the assurance held out for reconsideration of the minimum wage and
multiplication factor through the setting up of a high level committee within a
time frame of four months, the National JCA had deferred the strike action
which was to commence from 11.07.2016.
We had been patiently waiting for a
meaningful discussion in the matter ever since then. Not only there had been not
any worthwhile or meaningful discussions thereafter but no settlement was also
brought about till today though more than six months have been elapsed.
The National JCA met yesterday
(17-01-2017) and almost all members expressed extreme disappointment over the
turn of events. However, they felt that a meeting with your good self must be
sought to sort out the issue amicably.
We shall therefore be grateful if you
can indicate a date and time convenient to you, so that the undersigned along
with Dr. M Raghaviah, the Leader of Staff Side, JCM could call on you with a
view to explore reaching an agreement. Incidentally, we feel that it must be
our responsibility to convey to you that the Central Govt Employees throughout
the country are extremely critical of the fact that the Government had not
found it possible to accept even a single issue taken up by the Staff Side, JCM
after the 7th CPC submitted its recommendations to the Government.
This apart, the CG Pensioners numbering presently more than the working employees
are aggrieved of the fact that the one and only recommendation of the 7th
CPC which was in their favour i.e.
option No.1 have been recommended to be rejected by the Pension Department to
the Government.
Expecting a communication for an early
meeting and thanking you
Yours faithfully
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)
Secretary
Copy of letter addrtessed to the
Secretary Pension, Lok Nayak Bhawan, Khan Market, by the Secretary Staff Side
on 20th January, 2017.
The Chairman,
NPS Committee
Deptt. Of Pension & Pensioners’
Welfare
3rd Floor, Lok Nayak
Bhawan,
New Delhi
Sub:- Meeting of
the Committee constituted to suggest measures for streamliningthe implementation of the NPS for Central Govt
Employees – Reg.
Ref:
Letter No 57/1/2016-P&PW(B) dated 16th January 2017
Sir,
Kindly refer to your aforementioned
letter. At the outset we request you to
kindly favour us with a copy of the Government Notification setting up the
Committee to make suggestions to streamline the National Pension system for
Central Government employees. This is
needed for us to understand the scope and ambit of the functioning of the
Committee.
The 7th CPC in their report
in paras 10.3.11 to 10.3.25 has enumerated the plethora of complaints received
by it over the NPS and has finally recommended to the Government to set up a
Committee to look into those issues and address. However, we are constrained to believe from
the reading of para 3 of the letter
cited that the Committee is likely to have only a perfunctory consultation with
the stake holders on an important issue like this.
In any case, we give hereunder our
views in the matter with the fervent hope that the Committee will consider it
within the time constraints.
We are of the firm view that the
Central Government employees as a whole must be fully excluded from the ambit
of the defined contributory pension scheme for otherwise it would create two
classes amongst them, one making subscription; and another making no
subscription but receiving a better pension and other retirement benefits.
There is no justification for the
Government to deduct pension contribution from the Central Government
employees, even as per the recommendation of the 7th CPC they are
provided with far lesser Minimum wage that what it should have been as per the
norms of Dr. Aykroyd formula, approved by the 15th ILC and
subsequent judgment of the Supreme Court.
This apart, we were assured by the
Government during the Standing Committee meeting discussions held on 14.12.2007
that
“for
employees who had entered with effect from 1.1.2004 are not likely to be worse
off vis a vis the current pension system in force as the replacement rate would
match to the present one. Thus NPS is a
win-win situation for employees and the Government”.
Without deviating even an iota from
our firm position enumerated in No. 1 above,
the least the Government must do to honour the assurance given earlier is to guarantee that all Central
Govt. employees who are recruited with effect from 1.1.2004 and have thus
become mandatory subscribers to the NPS receive all benefits of pension, family
pension and other retirement benefits as is provided for under the CCS(Pension)
Rules applicable to the Central Government employees who are recruited prior to
1.1.2004.
To illustrate the point that the
Central Government employees, who are recruited with effect from 1.1.2004 are
provided with a paltry in the form of pension in total disregard to the
assurance held out by the Government on 14.12.2007 we enclose herewith the
details of pension entitlement computed in the case of a person, who was
recruited after 1.1.2004 and retired after 12 years of service in one of the
Ordnance factories under the Ministry of Defence. This person is being paid a
paltry amount of Rs 960/= p.m. as pension from NPS, whereas after the
implementation of the 7 CPC recommendations the minimum pension is Rs 9000/- +
DA p.m. with effect from 01-01-2016.
In fine, we feel that it would be
better if the Committee could convene a meeting as is convenient to all its
members so that a full-fledged discussion could be held on this vital issue
which is of utmost importance to a large segment of employees recruited after
01-01-2004 whose number is increasing day by day.
Thanking you
Yours Sincerely
(Shiva Gopal Mishra)
Secretary
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