NATIONAL CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE OF PENSIONERS.
Website:
nccpahq.blogspot.in.
E mail: nccpahq@gmail.com.
13.c Feroze Shah Road,m
New Delhi. 110 001
28th March, 2017
Dear Comrades,
We send herewith a copy of the
circular letter dated 20th March, 2017, which could not be placed on
the website immediately. The said
circular is about the deliberations, the staff side had at the NPS committee
meeting. The Committee on allowances had
their (last meeting- according to them) today but as per the report, they have
not been able to finalise the issue and therefore, the report is likely to be
further delayed. In the light of the
said development, the Staff side Secretary met the Cabinet secretary and urged upon
him to expedite decision on minimum wage, fitment formula, NPS, Pension
committee report etc. The 16th
March Strike under the auspices of the Confederation of Central Government employees and workers
had been a grand success. We thank all
comrades who took the initiative to
organise solidarity demonstrative actions in support of the striking
workers. Com. Tapan Sen, M.P.Rajya Sabha (CPI-M) took up the issue in
the Parliament on the day of strike and made a passionate plea to the
Government to settle the strike demands.
In the political scenario that
emerged after the general elections of five States, it is clear that settlement
of demands based upon mere discussions will not fructify. We had been requesting the Bharat Pensioners Samaj
to take initiative in organising certain demonstrative programme at Delhi to
highlight the Pensioner-specific issues, especially the denial of the Option
No.1 recommended by the 7th
CPC. They were indicating of a probable
date in the month of April, 2017. However, it looks bleak due to the changed
weather conditions, whereby even April has become unbearably hot. Even otherwise also, as no decision was taken
so far, the possibility of some programme being undertaken in April is ruled
out.
The NCCPA has been publishing its
bulletin every month. It was decided
earlier that to make it financially viable, the subscription to the magazine
must be widened. Except, no affiliate
has taken any initiative in the matter.
This apart, we have been informed by our Treasurer that the remittance in
the form of annual subscription from the affiliates has not been received for
the last two financial years.
The Confederation along with the
All India State Government employees Federation has mooted the idea of holding another
convention on the need to exclude the Government employees from the purview of
the NPS. Their plan is to have a
convention at Delhi in the month of June.
This has become necessary due to the anxiety exhibited by the employees,
especially those recruited after 1.1.2004 and the official statements at the
NPS Committee meetings.
To discuss these developments and
the organisational issue, we have decided to convene the National executive
Committee meeting of NCCPA in the month of August, 2017. We are awaiting the confirmation of the date
from the President and others. The venue
of the meeting will be at Nagpur as the COC of Pensioners organisations there
have indicated that it would be possible for them to get the MLA hostel for the
purpose in the month of August,
2017.
We are giving a list of items the
Staff Side JCM National Council has proposed for discussion at the Standing
committee meeting pertaining to health and pension problems of retired
personnel. Kindly go through the same. If any more issues are to be included,
please prepare a note with requisite documents and send the same to the CHQ to
pursue the same through correspondence and later with the JCM, Staff Side.
With
greetings,
Yours fraternally,
K.K.N. Kutty
Secretary General.
NATIONAL CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE OF PENSIONERS.
Website: nccpahq.blogspot.in.
E mail: nccpahq@gmail.com.
13.c Feroze Shah Road,m
New Delhi. 110 001
20th March. 2017
Dear Comrades,
As
you are aware, the Govt. had set up a committee as per recommendations of the 7th
CPC to streamline the procedure and functioning of the NPS. The Staff Side of
NC JCM was asked to present their views in the matter. The meeting was on 20th
January, 2017,. The Staff side made a written presentation to the committee on
the subject. (The note was placed on the website).However, it also took the
stand that the consultation with staff side could not be held in the manner of
a Raj durbar as quite a number of Associations especially representing the
organised Group A services and the all India Service officers were also invited
to the said meeting. The staff side was
assured of an independent hearing.
Subsequently the sub-committee III ( The Pension Committee had set up
three sub committees to interact with various stake holders on different
subjects) under the Chairmanship of Ms.
Vandana Sharma, Addl. Secretary of the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare convened a meeting on 10th February, 2017.
The Sub- Committee was more concerned about the applicability of various
provisions of the present rules to the NPS subscribers especially those which
are punitive in character. In the event
of a Government servant being found guilty under the CCS(CCA) Rules, the
Government is empowered to restrict, reduce or reject the Pension and other
retirement benefits. Prior to the meeting, the sub Committee had asked for
views on various issues to be discussed at the meeting. The official Side
wanted similar rules in the case of NPS subscribers. The Staff Side had
submitted a written Note in this regard.
The said Note has also been placed on the website. In the meeting, the Staff Side had made it
categorically clear that no such rules could be imposed on the NPS subscriber
as the annuity which he purchases on the basis of the contribution made at the
end of his service is the product of a financial transaction and cannot be
unilaterally altered at the whims of the employer. Once the contributions of the employee and
the employer is remitted to the investing agency, the employer ceases to be a
stake holder any more in the scheme.
The
third meeting was held on 17th March, 2017. The meeting was chaired by the Secretary
Pension. The said meeting was to
specifically interact with the members of the Staff Side. On behalf of the Staff side, the following
comrades took part in the meeting.
1. Com.
M.Raghavaiah (Leader, Staff Side)
2. Com.
Sivgopal Misra(Secretary Staff Side)
3. Com.
KKN.Kutty(Confederation)
4. Com.
C. Sreekumar(AIDEF)
5. Com.
Guman Singh and (NFIR)
6.
Com. Sreenivasan (INDWF)
As indicated earlier, several Associations of
Group A Officers had made their presentations.
Some of the important points mentioned by them during the discussions
were:
1) Discrimination
between pre and post 2004 officials-
2) While
Govt. determines the quantum of pension subscription and makes it mandatory it refuses to
guarantee a minimum return.
3) Atal
Pension Yojana offers better and guaranteed benefit to the Subscribers.
4) The Government’s assurance that the employees
under NPS will get annuity not less than the minimum pension under the defined
benefit scheme and might even be more was
made on wrong assumption in as much as
a) 100%
of the corpus was taken for computation
of annuity whereas as per the scheme only
40% of the pension wealth alone
would be available. .
b) Fund
expenses are exorbitantly under- valued.
c) No
benefit for the family the case of a Pensioner, who dies at an early age under
NPS.
d) Annuity
is not cost-indexed.
5) Two
officers at the level of the Secretary to GOI retiring on the same day in 2037(
former recruited in 2003 and latter in 2004 )will have a huge differential in
pension. The 2003 recruitee will have
pension 3.25 times of the annuity of the
2004 recruitee. Over a period of next 10 years i.e in 2047,(due to cost
indexation) the 2003 recruitee will have pension 7.4 times of what the 2004 NPS official receives as annuity.
6) In
most of the countries where contributory pension scheme is in vogue, the Govt’s
(employer) contribution is 25% of the salary while that of the employee is 10%
7) The
NPS Contribution do not enjoy the Tax benefits like PPF, EPF, GPF etc.
The
Secretary Pension informed the members that the Committee’s mandate is only to
make suggestions to streamline the NPS procedures and make the rules simple and
transparent. The basic features will not therefore undergo any change. He
concluded that neither the scheme would be
replaced or discarded , nor any guaranteed minimum pension would be offered. as in both cases Govt. will
have to undertake financial
obligations. He clarified that the Sub
Committees have been set up to expedite the work.
The staff Side in their presentation made out
inter alia the following points:
a) The
number of employees covered under NPS in increasing day by day and in a
decade’s time, they might become significant segment of the Government personnel.
b) All
those who are covered by the scheme are extremely critical and resent that
their savings are channelled into private hands to help the corporate bodies to
make enormous profits.
c) There
is no likelihood either now or in any time in future that NPS subscribers will
be able to purchase an annuity equivalent to what the
pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme is entitled. The Government must
honour its commitment made to this effect to the staff side in the National
Council, when the NPS was introduced.
d) The
Committee in its report must at least
bring it to the notice of Government that the Staff Side of the JCM is
of the firm view that the cosmetic changes in the scheme will not bring about
any tangible benefit to the subscribers and the Government must as an interim
measure guarantee the pension to NPS subscribers equivalent to what is provided
for the personnel covered under the defined benefit scheme.
e) The
Staff Side opined that the committee
will be well within its term of
reference to suggest.
(i)
Cost-indexation of annuity
as the Contribution made by the
subscribers and the Government as employer
is 10% of the salary-salary for this purpose being Basic Pay and
Dearness allowance. In other words, in every six months contribution increases
and therefore it is logical that the annuity is also raised every six months to
keep pace with the rate of inflation.
(ii)
Minimum guarantee is assured
by many countries even under the contributory system of pension and the
provision to the contrary in the PFRDA Act must be recommended to be removed.
(iii)
It is a welcome step that
the Govt. has now decided to extend the benefit of family pension in the case
of all NPS subscribers who die in harness. The family pension can therefore be
assured at the prevailing rate for all
NPS subscribers, if necessary by appropriating a one-time deduction from their pension wealth, at their option, at the time of retirement.
(iv)
To introduce the GPF again
as a voluntary option.
(v)
All NPS subscribers must be
provided with a payment slip by the heads of offices indicating the amount deducted, the amount
contributed by the Govt. and the date on which the sum has been made over the to the fund
managers, irrespective of the communication the subscriber is entitled to get
from the PFRDA registry.
(vi)
No rules to be framed to
link the pension benefit with disciplinary proceedings.
(vii)
The present investment
pattern prescribed must be reviewed for its viability periodically.
(viii)
The Sub Committee which goes
into the issue concerning framing rules may be asked to interact with the Staff
Side once the draft rules are ready.
(ix)
In so far as customer
friendly procedures are concerned, the committee may look at the best
international practices with a view to adopt and incorporate them.
It
could be seen from the deliberations in the committee that nothing short of
replacing NPS with Statutory
defined Benefit Pension Scheme
will bring about anything good for new recruitees.Our endeavour must be in that
direction whereby sanctions are generated and compulsions are felt by the Govt as early as
possible.
K.K.N. Kutty
Member,
Standing Committee
National Council, JCM.
.
Item No.1
Central
Government health Scheme. Empanelling of hospitals – streamlining the procedure
to provide in-patient treatment to the beneficiaries.
The demand placed by the Staff Side earlier to set up CGHS
hospitals at all CGHS centres could not be acceded to by the Government due to
the prohibitive cost involved. The alternate method of empanelling and
recognizing private hospitals for the benefit of CGHS subscribers, who require
in-patient treatment, received the appreciation from all concerned. However, the tendering procedure evolved and
due to many other reasons, the number of such hospitals in almost all centers
except Delhi came down very heavily and in certain places it was reduced to one
or two at the maximum. This apart, some
of the recognized and empanelled
hospitals do not have even basic facilities to treat the patients. In certain other cases, the hospitals which
were recognized and were functioning well and catering to the requirement of
the CGHS beneficiaries refused to
entertain the patients as there had been huge pending bills, the payment of
which had not been received by them. To
illustrate the point further, we send
along with this a Note we have received from the Central Government Pensioners
Association , Kerala. We, therefore,
request you to
(a) Ensure that each CGHS Centre five
private reputed hospitals are recognized for the purpose of general treatment;
The Government may hold bilateral negotiations on the basis of a pre-determined
norms.
(b) Recognize at least three super specialty
hospitals in each centre so that the patients who suffer from chronic diseases,
Cardiac problems and cancer related illness could get immediate treatment
without hassles.
(c) Some mechanism is evolved that the bills
are not allowed to pile up and the recognized hospitals are made the payment
within a fixed time frame.
Item No.2
Include unmarried/widow /divorcee sister in the definition of family
for family pension.
The scope of Family pension under Rule 52 of the CCS(Pension)
Rules, 1972 was extended to the dependent disabled siblings (brother and
sister) of Central Government servants/pensioners vide DOP & PW O.M. No.
1/15/2008-P&PW (E) dated 17th August, 2009. There are
cases wherein an employee/pensioner remains unmarried and leaves behind
dependent unmarried/widow /divorcee sister/sisters. Though cases of such types
may be few and far between, nonetheless, such hapless ladies need to be taken care by the Government lest they should be left to fend for
themselves, after the death of Government Servant/pensioner on whom they were
fully dependent before his/her death. We request to include dependent unmarried
/widow /divorcee sister/sisters in the definition of family for the purpose of
family pension .
Item No.3
Counting full service of Temporary causal labourers for pensionery
and retirement
benefits in Railways-reg.
The Staff Side had discussed its demand for counting full service
of temporary status of casual
labourers for pensionary and retirement benefits at the level of
Railway Ministry. Consequently, the Railway Ministry had agreed and accordingly
proposal was sent to the Ministry of Finance and DoP&T Seeking clearance.
Unfortunately, the MoF/DoP&T have not accorded approval:-
In this connection, the Staff Side brings following key points for
consideration.
(a) The Casual
Labourers in Railways had attained temporary status on completion of prescribed days of continuous working
and got the benefits admissible to temporary Railway/Government
employees such as regular Pay Scale, Medical facility etc.,
(b) The Railway
Administrations have however taken abnormally long periods to absorb them as regular staff although regular
posts were vacant.
(c) The status of
casual labourers in railways after acquiring temporary status (termed as Temporary employee) is exactly similar to
the substitutes in whose case, the total service
from the date of attainment of temporary status is counted for reckoning qualifying service for pensionery benefits.
(d) Various CATs, High
Courts and even the Apex Court have given decisions against the
differential
treatment between the casual labour and substitutes particularly when both attained temporary status and directed to
treat them at par so far as reckoning the service
from the date of temporary status till the date of regularization for
pensionary benefits etc.,
(e) The SLPs filed by
the Union of India before the Apex Court in a few cases of casual labourers were dismissed and the Hon’ble
Supreme Court had directed the Union of India
to calculate Pension and other retiral benefits payable to the retiring/retired
employees, taking into account the
100% temporary status service.
The Staff Side, therefore, requests to consider the above valid
points and accord approval for
counting total temporary status service of Casual Labourers for
pensionary benefits in Railways.
Item No.4.
Direct
consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central Government/State Government
Hospitals
/Polyclinics. Continuation of the facility to those CGHS beneficiaries who were
eligible for
direct consultation before revision of the Monetary Ceiling
i)
The monetary Ceiling for direct
consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central/State Government Hospitals/
Polyclinics was revised to Pay/Pension/Family Pension of Rs.33, 480/- per month
and above with effect from 1-6-2009 vide MoH &FW O.M. No.S.11011/2/2008-cghs
(P) dated 20-5-2009 on account of
implementation of recommendations of 6th Central Pay Commission. However, para
5 (iii) of the OM states that “entitlement
of Pensioners/Family Pensioners who have already deposited their contribution
for life time CGHS facility, will not be changed”
ii)
Pre-2006 Pensioners who were eligible for direct consultation on the basis of
the then existing/pre-revised monetary ceiling of Pay/Pension/Family Pension,
but whose Pay/Pension/Family Pension is below the revised monetary ceiling of
Rs.33, 480, are not being allowed direct consultation facility on the plea that
they do not satisfy the requirement of minimum Pay/Pension/Family pension for
eligibility for direct consultation.
iii)
Absence of the entry regarding entitlement of the beneficiary for direct
consultation in the Plastic Card is adding to the woes of the Beneficiaries
since they will have to establish their claim for the facility on each and
every occasion of direct consultation with Specialist. It is to be noted that
the paper cards issued earlier did carry an entry on the eligibility of the
Beneficiary for direct consultation.
iii) Hence it is requested that:
§ Instructions may
please be caused to be issued to all Directors/Additional Directors; CGHS to
continue to provide the facility of direct consultation to such of those
Beneficiaries who were eligible for the same prior to revision of the monitory
ceiling vide O.M. dated 20-5-2009, in as much as para (5) (iii) of the said O.
M. states that entitlement of a Beneficiary who holds a life time card will not
change with the changes brought about w.e.f 1-6-2009.
§ Entry regarding the eligibility for direct
consultation with the Specialist must be
made in the plastic cards issued to such Beneficiaries who were eligible for it
before 1-6-2009
·
Entry regarding the eligibility for direct
consultation with the Specialist must be made in the plastic cards issued to
Beneficiaries who are eligible for it as per the revised monetary ceiling.
·
On-line appointment with the Specialist
For taking on-line appointment with the
Specialist, there are two fields to be filled up in the
prescribed format.
(1)
Date of reference
from the Wellness centre
(2) Basic Pay/Pension/Family Pension.
In the case of (2) above, If the
amount of Pay/Pension/FP, entered is less than the revised monetary Ceiling of
Rs.33, 480, the request gets rejected and a message stating that”you are not
eligible to take an on-line appointment” appears on the screen, thereby
preventing the Beneficiary who was eligible for direct consultation before
1-6-2009 from availing the facility of on-line direct consultation. Hence, the
format prescribed for taking direct on-line consultation needs to be suitably
modified to include such of those beneficiaries who were eligible for the same
as per pre-1-6-2009 monetary Ceiling of Rs.18,000/- & pre- 31-3-2004 monetary Ceiling of Rs. 12,000/-.
Item No.5
Revision
of monetary Ceiling for direct consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central
Government/State
Government Hospitals /Polyclinics in respect of Pensioners and Family
Pensioners.
Vide
Para (F) of MoH &FW O.M. No.S.11011/2/2008-CGHS (P) dated 20-5-2009, the Monitory Ceiling for direct
consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central Government/State Government Hospitals /Polyclinics in respect all
CGHS Beneficiaries has been fixed as Pay/Pension/Family pension of Rs. 33,480/- per month and above. Equating
Pension and Family pension with Pay for the purpose of direct consultation with
Specialists, has not only created a wide disparity in facilities admissible
under CGHS between serving and retired employees, but also has resulted in
restriction of the facility of direct consultation with Specialists only
to the officers retiring from Grade S-30 & above who only are entitled for a pension of 33,500/- and above and in absolute
denial of the facility to all Family pensioners since the maximum amount of Family Pension admissible under CCS(Pension)Rules is Rs.
27,000/- only.
Hence,
the monetary ceiling for direct consultation with Specialists in respect of
Pensioners must be revised to 50% of Rs.33, 480 ie. Rs.16,740 and to 30% in
respect of Family Pensioners ie., Rs.10.044, on the analogy of grant of Pension
and Family pension under CCS(Pension) Rules.,1972.
Item No.6
Plastic Cards
The
process of issue of plastic cards is still not complete, though it started
about 2 years ago. In Bangalore, only about 40% of the Beneficiaries have got
the plastic card so far. Hence, an Agency in Bangalore City may be identified
for the purpose, which would quicken the process.
Item No.7
Indication of Ward entitlement in plastic cards of
pre-1-6-2009 Beneficiaries
O
.M No.S-11011-6/98-CGHS (P) dated 26-10-2005 issued in connection with revision
of ward entitlement consequent upon merger of DA/DR with Pay/Pension w.e.f
1-4-2004 states that
“For the existing CGHS card holders both
serving and pensioners, there will be no change in their ward entitlements
consequent upon the grant of D P /D R
w.e.f. 1-4-2004”
&
O .M. No. S 1011/2/2008-CGHS (P), dated
20-5-2009 issued in connection with revision of ward entitlement consequent
upon implementation of 6th CPC recommendations states that Entitlement
of pensioners /family pensioners who have already deposited their contribution
for life time CGHS facility, will not be changed
But
in some cases, the Ward entitlement is indicated as per the revised rates in
the plastic cards issued to pre-1-6-2009 Beneficiaries, which has resulted in
indication of a ward which is below their actual ward entitlement determined
with reference to the pay drawn at the time of retirement. This anomaly needs
to be set right by making necessary correction in the plastic cards, if a
Beneficiary submits representation requesting corrections in the plastic card
issued to him/her. Necessary instructions must be issued to all concerned.
Item No.8
Grant
of one time option to CGHS Beneficiaries to opt for ward entitlement as per
their
revised
Pay in Pay Band.
Some CGHS Beneficiaries who had opted for payment
of CGHS contribution on the basis of their pension at the time of their
retirement and whose ward entitlement was determined on their pension, got ward
entitlement which was below their entitlement
determined as per the pay last drawn. Since they are eligible for higher
ward entitlement facility determined on their pay, say from general ward to semi-private ward/
semi-private ward to private ward, they may be given a onetime option to opt for determination of their ward entitlement
on the basis of their notional “Pat in Pay Band” in terms of
MoH &FW O.M. No.S.11011/2/2008-cghs (P) dated 20-5-2009.It has been clarified in the O.M. ibid that Pay in
Pay Band means the corresponding Pay in Pay Band that the Pensioner would have
drawn had he/she continued in service.
Item No. 9
Provision
of CGHS facility for life time to dependent disabled/mentally retarded children
of Central Government Employees/Pensioners
i)
In the “Definition of Family” under
CGHS, furnished in Ministry of Health
& FW O.M. No. 3T-1/2009-C&P/CGHS (P) dated 23-2-2011, daughter as
indicated at Sl No.( 5) (ii) can avail the benefits till she starts earning or
gets married irrespective of the age-limit, where as son indicated at Sl. No.
5(iii) of the list, suffering from any permanent Physical/Mental disability is
entitled to avail the facility “irrespective of age- limit”, and son’s marital
status may not result in denial of CGHS facility to him ,in as much as there is
no mention of marital status in the definition, unlike the definition at Sl.5
(i) On the other hand, daughter
suffering from any permanent disability (physical disability or mental retardation)
loses the facility if she gets married as per the definition at Sl.
(5)(ii).
Hence,
the case of a physically disabled/mentally retarded daughter needs to be
considered for extension of CGHS facility “irrespective of age-limit, even
after her marriage”.
ii)
It is to be noted that under CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, by an amendment to
explanations 1 and 3 after Sub-rule 6 of Rule 54, as communicated vide
Department of Pension & PW O .M. No. 1/33/2012-P&PW (E) dated
16-1-2013, mentally /physically disabled children have been allowed to continue
to draw family pension even after their marriage thereby removing the condition
of marital status for continued drawal of family pension.
iii)
It is requested that on the analogy of pension rules, mentally/physically
disabled children (both son and daughter) of Central Government
Employees/Pensioners may be allowed to continue to avail CGHS facilities even
after their marriage by removing the condition of marital status now existing
in respect of daughters only. The “definition of family” under CGHS may please
be modified suitably.
Item No.10
Extension
of CGHS facilities to retired BSNL employees - follow up action by the Ministry
of Health and family Welfare & fixation of rates of contribution & ward
entitlement.
Department
of Telecommunications vide their OM No 4-12(11)2012-PAT dated 20/2/2014 have
extended CGHS facilities to retired BSNL employees who are in receipt of
Central Civil pension/Pro-rata pension from Central Civil Estimates in
consultation with the Ministry of Health& Family Welfare. BSNL retirees
have been given an option to choose either CGHS or BSNL–MRS as per their
convenience.
BSNL
also vide its letter no. BSN/Admn/ 14-15/09 (pt) dated 2nd April, 2014
addressed to all the Chief General Managers, has asked them to give wide
publicity and to assist the willing retired employees by forwarding their
applications to the respective CGHS units for admission to CGHS.
But,
the letter No. Z-5025/36/2006-CGHS-III Pt. Dated 9-1-2014 stated to have been
issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare extending CGHS facilities to retired BSNL employees, does
not seem to have been uploaded to its website or to the website of CGHS which
has resulted in a large number of BSNL pensioners remaining unaware of the CGHS
facility extended to them even after a lapse of 14 months .Hence, immediate
action for wide circulation of the said O.M. needs to be taken.
Further,
since the DoT O.M. dated 20/2/2014 stipulates that the retired BSNL employees
who opt for CGHS “would have to pay the requisite fee to CGHS as applicable to
Government retirees”, the rate of monthly contribution payable by BSNL
pensioner has to be fixed. It is to be noted that the contribution payable by
the Government retirees is fixed on the basis of the Grade Pay that they would
have drawn had they been in service whereas in BSNL there is no element of
Grade Pay to fix the rate of contribution on par with Government retirees. The
ward entitlement of Government retirees is also determined on the ‘notional Pay
in Pay Band’. Hence, a new criterion on contribution and ward entitlement in
respect of BSNL retirees must now be evolved, which must be in conformity with
the rates applicable to CGHS Beneficiaries.
Item No.11
Extending the benefit of
pension revision to the employees and officials who are absorbed in the Central
Public Sector undertakings.
In the case of Civil Servants who are initially on deputation to
Central Public sector undertaking but later absorbed in those
organsiations and who had drawn lump sum
payment by commutation of their central pension, orders are yet to be issued by
the Government extending the benefit of pension revision of 7th CPC recommendation to them. We request that the requisite orders may
please be issued without further loss of time.
Revision
of Ex-gratia to CPF/SRPF (C)retirees.
In acceptance of the demand of the Staff side at the National
Council, JCM, ex-gratia payments were made to the CPF/SRPF© retirees. These rates fixed in 1988 was revised on
1.11. 1997 and again from 2006. Presently the rates are as under:
Group
A. Rs. 3000
Group
B. Rs. 1000
Group
C. Rs. 750
Group
D. Rs. 650.
Taking into account the
fact that pay and pension were revised on the basis of the 7th Central Pay Commission’s recommendation a
revision of rates of the ex gratia to the CPF/SRPF© retirees whose number is dwindling every day is
warranted. We, therefore, request that the rates may be appropriately revised
applying the very same rationale adopted in the case of civil pensioners.
Dispense with the practice of ignoring the fraction while
computing the Dearness allowance.
For the sake of easy computation
of DA the practice of ignoring the
fraction was initiated. The quantum loss
to the beneficiaries in the beginning was meager. Now that the administrative difficulties
which promoted for ignoring the fraction has been greatly eased due to
computerization and taking into account the loss for six months is no more
meagre, it is necessary that the practice is dispensed with. For example, the next installment of DA is
likely to be 2.95%whereas the orders would be issued for grant of only 2%. In
the case of an employee, whose basic pay is Rs. 50,000, the loss per month in that case would be Rs. 475/-. It is pertinent to mention in this connection
that in the case of Bank employees, the practice of ignoring the fraction is
not followed. We, therefore, request
that the DA hereafter be computed without ignoring the fraction.
Item No.12
Opening of CGHS Dispensaries in AGRA, Barrackpore (Kolkata) and
Kochi
A large number of Central Government employees and pensioners are
concentrated in and around Agra, Barrackpore and Kochi. The employees and
pensioners of these cities are to travel a long distance for taking treatment
since CGHS dispensaries are not available in these cities. It is, therefore
requested that CGHS dispensaries may be established in these cities
Item No.13
Revision of the benefit of Deposit
Linked Insurance Coverage from GPF.
As per Rule 33-B of GPF Rules on the death of a Subscriber an
additional amount not exceeding Rs. 60,000/- payable under Deposit Linked
Insurance Scheme of GPF to the dependents of a deceased employee. This rate has
not been enhanced for so many years. Similar benefit for a depositor in EPF
covered under the Employees Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme 1976 is enhanced to
Rs. 6,00,000/-. It is therefore requested that Government may consider to
enhance the limit of Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme from GPF.
Item No.14.
MACP to the employees
who have completed 10 years or 20/30 years on the date of their retirement
Employees who have completed 10 years in the same grade / pay level
or those who have completed 20/30 years on the last working day of the month
which happens to be the superannuation/ retirement day of the concerned
employee is denied MACP benefits on the plea that they are eligible for MACP
only on the next working day. Since the concerned employee retired one day
before he is denied the benefit. Due to this the employee is subjected to huge
loss in pension and other terminal benefits. Therefore it is requested that
employees who are completing ten years in the same grade / same pay level and
20/30 years on the date of their retirement i. e. last working day of the month
may be granted MACP benefits by relaxing the relevant provisions in the MACP
scheme
