Your presentation in blog
Even after cataract intraocular microfoldable lens insertion, left eye was not satisfactory,so had to meet Surgeon & in all 5 hrs spent with dilation, checks & rechecks, passed on to Chief expert Surgeon & Retina expert,scan, injection as fluid accumulation with 3 types of eye drops & 3 types of pills.
When such are the travails of pensioners, why should we throw mud at each other, why should we break the glass house, as ours/pensioners is weak & meek. From mud & clay, a beautiful pot emerges, ugliness is transformed to a beauty, finished product is superlative. A gem cannot be polished without friction, a man cannot be perfected without trials. In court matters, particularly, trials & testing time are more & natural. But it is not as though progress was so slow. Even LIC SLP 29956 & 29957/2011, though baby of LIC, Asthana moved an application for early hearing & they were dismissed. We all singly & jointly weaved a web of magic, we worked hard, we invented, so to say, classic procedures & manuals of standing & a bedrock foundation was created called our Taj Mahal, LIC. It is a standing monument of memory of the sweat &blood of all employees & all pensioners who dreamed dreams & built visions. It is better to deserve without receiving than to receive without deserving.
Here we pensioners richly deserve & so we must richly receive too. So, pension upgradation with successive wage revision is a must. Why should we settle for anything less ? NO, not at all, 3 victories in Rajasthan HC, SJ, DB & Review, 1 clarificatory order dt 17 oct 2012 by eminent SC Bench – pay retiral benefits from the date of eligibility, i.e. date of retirement, Punjab & Haryana HC of Chandigarh echoing & endorsing in full Jaipur HC judgement adding spice of 10 % interest for delay, Delhi HC again fully basing on Jaipur HC & going beyond mere Full DR, how on earth can anyone , even to his wildest enemy, say, all 12 Hon Judges erred & so pension revision cannot be given !! Utterly & butterly ridiculous.
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2) I did not indulge in any diatribe, the only reply I gave was regarding my email to our Chairman Sri SKRoy, on his assumption of this great & august office of a premier public sector institution, which Sri GNS pointed out in some unaffable terms, I had to respond as I did wish Chairman as VP,AIRIEF. Recent ones were of others. OK. I hasten to congratulate you for the optimistic words - we seem to be on the threshold to something big, as the SC Dismissal would indicate, yes absolutely correct, here is sugarcandy to U & all pensioners. From a prophet of doom, u have travelled to a better destination as a prophet of boom.
What happened, suddenly, you say when by some method or the other, the SC might end up giving us more than a normal dream of a benefit.
NO, we mentioned methodically all legal, constitutional principles, principles of equity, equality & justice, violation of Fundamental Rights of Citizens, intolerance by Courts of discrimination, equally presence of arbitrariness replete in our case as power is wielded in a ruthless manner by MOF/UOI to deprive silent pensioners of what they ought to have secured long back, what more is needed to click & clinch the issue of pension revision with successive wage revisions.
In the immediate next para, you jump to say “The other simple fact is that Central Govt. employees, through repeated Pay Commission awards, already enjoy upgradation in Pensions. I am told that the senior-most IAS Pensioner alive, housed in Nilgiris, at age 93 or so, is the one who draws the highest Pension. I don't think we should feel hesitant to ask for it, even if we are going to be the first ones to get it in this manner ”Glad your feet are firmly planted on earth, you have embraced reality. DK, remember we are all in pitiable, poorest IV Pay Commission mode. Others have travelled with jet speed to V & VI Pay commission with a bonanza of pension benefits. Our dear senior most IAS Nilgiris friend, 93 yrs young, let me tell you, enjoys usual pension upgradation as ALSO value-added pension in VI PC of 30/40/50/60/100% increase in pension at ages 80/85/90/95/100. We, behold the beauty of same MOF/UOI how they protect their clan, with double & triple benefits, i.e. on top of pension upgradation, he has enjoyed already 3 quinquennium rise upto 50 %,what more, before the ink is dry, at 95 he will get another 60%. Lo, our guys want DR ONLY, how sad, may be they believe in “Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts”. We told umpteen times that FP of CG employees is much higher than LIC RP. Is this also not appealing to the heart or mind? We then said emphatically a peon is getting more than pre-8/1997 ED !! Does this also fall on deaf ears?
3) Again, your sentence ‘I don't think we should feel hesitant to ask for it, even if we are going to be the first ones to get it in this manner’ is a masterstroke. Bankers & all others write to me to say that none can demolish LIC immortal Board Resolution containing both pension upgradation at that point of time with 11.25% & so they have to fight it out. Why should anyone say -- all this is moonshine, take it from me, this cannot come through & as though to curse, time will testify. LIC & UOI delayed & dithered, 15 yrs have gone by, if outlay app comes to Rs 1200cr. or so, it is a mere Rs 95cr/100cr per annum,which is peanuts for LIC. In my earlier long, educative & purposeful delineations, which appeared in your blog ,with a mission to treat this as a Valuable Supplement to my own sweat & toil for 6 months burning midnight oil lamp, Booklet, KURUKSHETRA -- Asthana, the Architect & AIRIEF, the Saviour & Protector, of 52 invaluable pages of goldmine, as it were, we wanted to stop disinformation. I pointed out pension payments for nearly 43,000 pensioners in 2010-11 barely amounted to Rs497cr, constituting a mere 4.1% of Employees remuneration & welfare expenses & a still lesser 2.9% of Total operating expenses. LIC has not raised the issue of outlay at all, but pessimists & cassandras out to sabotage likely positive outcome, as you yourself narrated, are putting brakes on progress to final victory
4) It is wrong to portray that it is a whopping amount, LIC cannot afford to pay etc, who is playing the game, who is falling into the hands of the opponent is clear. You say GNS line of approach has been more 'practical' and perhaps less ambitious. He always thought of those pre-1997 retirees whose DA compensation principle has been less than fair. Any Association or Federation, more so Pensioners Fedns at crossroads, as it is do or die situation, when an opportunity presents grab it, seize it, clinch it, that is it. A Leader or a strategist converts difficulties into opportunities, here we are converting opportunities into difficulties. If we allow it to slip through, posterity will not pardon us. How can we take shelter in the ‘practical ‘ & ‘less ambitious ‘ formula? Is it safe & sane to try to help 14,500 pre-8/1997 pensioners, do by all means, & deny the right & privilege to the larger number of groups 26,500 app till 31/7/2007 who are also steadily experiencing anomalies & paradoxes in pension which will escalate higher with more wage revisions. Further, his letter to FM Sri P.Chidambaram has all the undertones of, as though only DR is enough, rest we see later, prostrating before him knowing full well FM’s inclinations & stubbornness not to help the Kamadhenu of Financial & Service sectors who really oil the wheels of machinery of Govt. The kernel of that letter is only again back to DR only concept confined to pre-8/1997 pensioners. I was not happy why Editor LIC Pensioners Chronicle delayed release so much of that letter dt 7 July, 2013. Easily it could have been accommodated much much earlier. It is also to be remembered & reminded that United Forum of Insurance Employees & Pensioners comprising 13 unions led by Fedn of LIC Class I Officers Assns met then FM Sri Pranab Mukerjee. AIRIEF is associated with it, not GNS. Sri VCJain is a signatory too.
5) I fully agree with your last para encouraging & optimistic conclusions ‘We are on the verge of something historical, if it happens thro' the SLP, and our variance of views within ourselves should never throw up an unseemly opportunity to the opponents to find a handle from our communications. Let us not forget that if we do get something big thro these efforts in courts, it will be a great day for all Pensioners for all future. Let's hope that the signs of success visible in the not too distant horizon will atleast see us as one bloc to receive the benefits in good grace with malice to none and good wishes to all’
6) Finally, if any moves had tactical error & so delayed SLP, do suggest alternatives to clinch final victory through Specific orders of SC. Two chances to appeal should normally be enough to decide a case. The 3rd or 4th appeals to the HCs or SC by a person who has not even won once before should be rejected at the threshold. Let us all pray together appreciating the reach & repercussions of the verdicts rendered, only to set right the inequity & injustice &endeavour as one large banyan tree of pensioners. We are moving heaven & earth to rediscover pensioners as a significant section of society & above all to give Voice to voiceless & a Face to faceless & even power to the powerless. Let us not create any melodrama, but try to calibrate our utterances properly. Ultimately, we all must remember trivialities should not destroy criticalities.
Greetings,Goodluck & Godspeed,
R.B. KISHORE,
VP, AIRIEF