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Monday, April 14, 2014

RB KISHORE


Proposals & suggestions to seek unity & present a mosaic of common interests of pensioners are appearing regularly in LIC Pensioners Chronicle. This is introspection, this is review, this is soul-searching mainly with the objective of hastening due process of law, as considerable time & years have passed by & patience is dying down. Sri M.Sreenivasa Murty has taken a lead & has evolved a series of steps to convert this idea to reality. He had a chain of dialogues at Delhi during SC hearing with leaders who matter. His main strategy is to ensure that in 2nd week of August 2014, all clubbed CAs are slated for hearing, Pensioners Federations involved in Delhi case viz.Sri GN Sridharan & thro Intervention Petition, Sri KML Asthana, who has been spearheading the legal battle to a series of victories in Jaipur HC, Chandigarh HC & Delhi HC on main plank of historic  Hon SJ Bhandari’s judgement dt 12/1/2010 .CGH  HC added interest 12% for the delay meaning thereby retrospective, Delhi HC added “in rem” meaning thereby, not merely Petitioners but all pensioners in same aggrieved category. While this gives a total picture, as it stands today, with ever so many articles, treatises, clarifications for the unique, macro remedy of pension upgradation with successive wage revisions  & Full DR to pre-8/1997 pensioners, Sri MSM is bent on appealing to good sense of Pensioners Fedns to ensure smooth sailing when all CAs clubbed together for hearing comes up in SC.

It is to be mentioned that AIIPA has not aired its views except to say that they are eager to pursue the negotiation route only with LIC top management & MOF & they were not to pursue this issue through Courts. Even when the postcard campaign to FM on the 3 issues of enhancing exgratia to pre-1986 eldest retirees, Full DR to pre-8/97 pensioners &  pension revision with latest wage revision found a place, in Charter of Demands, they have  stated as — future pension upgradation after 1/8/2012 ONLY.

Truth of the matter is the overall policy decisions taken by Fedn of LIC Class I Officers’Assns emphasizes DR ONLY acceptance & propagation. After a  series of articulations through emails & in licpensioners chronicle blog, realization came that Pension Upgradation ALONE can be the Saviour, if at all, ALL GROUPS of Pensioners have to benefit, as otherwise, grotesque anomalies will continue to haunt EVERY Group of pensioners pre & post & such monstrous & perplexing differences will continue to rise & be the bane to tolerate & yielding in a cowardly manner rather than addressing courageously to such an important issue adversely affecting the entire pensioners fraternity, more so when the initiative is with us & we have an upper hand. It must also be mentioned that all their efforts in writing letters to LIC management & to meet Top LIC management & Secretary FS, MOF  many times to seek solution of DR only out of the twin benefits being conferred by Hon SJ Bhandaris judgement could not succeed. AIIPA also entertained same idea  & that also could not bring any partial acceptance of the verdicts embracing only Full DR to pre-8/1997 pensioners.

It must not be forgotten that, thoughtful  & herculean efforts were made by AIRIEF in early years of 1999, 2000 to prepare Loss of Pension Chart, circulate to LIC Management & MOF, hold dialogues, impress upon them, camped in Mumbai for 4 days meeting all independent Board Members with  our Appeal &M emorandum, what a realization came  & that memorable marathon meeting with Sri G.N.Bajpai  in Conference Hall of Yogakshema for 110 minutes in 8/2001 was the capstone which ultimately saw the birth of the so-called LIC Board Resolution dt 24/11/2001. This provided the feeder & the nucleus for the verdict dt 12/1/2010 & Hon SJ Bhandari has drawn upon salient points therein & extended to further pension upgradation so that all pensioners get somewhat similar benefits. Further, it was also elucidated, amplifying LIC Board Resolution, without any hairsplitting  & that LIC itself, in its secret letter dt  31/12/2001  to then Joint Secretary, MOF, Sri Ajit Sharan,  secured under RTI & 11/8/2003 to MOF/UOI state clearly “there is an urgent need to rationalize the DR structure available to different groups of pensioners in order to reduce the administrative inconvenience & also to see that  different  generations  of  pensioners  are protected by merging  the  pension to  a  suitable index.    This clinches the issue of successive pension revisions with every wage revision.

Judged in this sense, Hon SJ Bhandaris verdict dt 12/1/2010 is rightly an extension of this concept as, at that point of time on 24/11/2001, subsequent wage revisions were not dueThe 2nd writ admitted was CWP 654/2007 exclusively  on pension upgradation substituting scales of pay as & when wage revision for employees take place, quoting many reputed case laws apart from the Magna Carta for pensioners in Nakara case, the 5-Judge SC Bench presided over by Hon CJ  Chandrachud, an elucidation &  dissertation by  Learned & Hon SJ, Rajasthan HC, pointing out gross anomalies & discrepancies in pension whereby 10 cadres below get more pension than the higher cadres retired few years before, that date of retirement is irrelevant, one cannot discriminate groups of pensioners as pre & post, all pensioners form one single homogeneous group only & particularly, when it is an Existing Pension scheme & not any New scheme, all pensioners assuredly deserve pension revision with every wage revision.   Hon Judge has elaborately dealt with the principles & rationale of continued pension revision substituting new scales of pay. Sri P.P. Dhamija can now atleast come to earth earthy & modify his views & if still, he wants to cling to his interpretation, so be it.

We must remind ourselves that when OROP judgement came, to “grant & pay  uniform pension to Armed Forces  retiring in the same Rank with  the same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement, any future enhancement of pension be uniformly passed on to all past pensioners.”    SC ordered retrospective wef 1/1/2006 as effective date with 6 % interest. Readers may also know that when CG, State Govts, Railways, PSE under the control of CG, all get, as also Judicial Officers & UGC Professors pension upgradation automatically, & for CG alone, V PC cost a whopping Rs 35,000 crores for 50 lacs employees & 35 lac pensioners & VI PC would also have been staggering plus CG allowed PSEs to go ahead & even granted 80% of additional  expenditure for loss-making enterprises, it passes one's comprehension as to why at all pension upgradation looks anathema to some. Right royal in  one Chorus we must wholeheartedly demand & equally in one chorus in SC, we must present unified arguments & submissions.
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United Forum of In-Service Employees’ & Pensioners Assns comprising 13 Unions led by Oscar Fernandes with Sri Mahesh Kaushik, GS, LIC Class I Officers’ Fedn as Chief Coordinator, met then FM Sri Pranab Mukerjee discussing Oscar’s letter dt 22/9/2011 & to a pointed query by then FM whether LIC is owned by CG, when reply was ‘Yes’, so CG benefits must automatically go to Insurance employees too.

So, MSM formula for joint action with same stand in submission of arguments, in  SC, boils down, in essence, to only AIRIEF & Fedn of Retired Class I Officers Assns as actors of the courtcraft, when exact date for August,2014 sitting will be known. As Sri MSM had extensive, long, cordial  talks with Sri GNS at Delhi & more so, he belongs to Fedn of Retd Class I officers Assns, it must not be difficult for Sri MSM to secure this nod & approval.Then he would have wrested this initiative to ensure operationalisation  by way of similar, forceful, concurrent & assertive presentations by respective Counsels to secure SC Bench favourable verdict issuing direction & orders  to LIC to implement Hon SJ Bhandari’s  umbrella judgement  with twin benefits, as to be projected & presented  in same vein, by learned Counsels in one voice, demolishing LIC arguments & submissions. 

It is necessary to emphasise  that all must refrain from making any adverse comments on anybody or any Assn or Fedn. Even some expectations on what may happen in Courts have not taken place & for that matter one should not be branded as unwise. Suffice it to say, a specific legal course of action can be suggested & if found proper & feasible, by both our parties/Fedns, as wisdom is not with anyone individual but with many thinking hats, united & unified action & presentation of arguments to win the case in August 2014, can be a binding force. It is not, therefore, as though any fighting was going on amongst Pensioners Fedns, but ONLY  divergence on Principle of pension upgradation, out of their shelf, that so-called common enemy LIC/UOI attempts to distort & delay perennially occurred. There was a  toning down of stand & acceptance of pension upgradation principle later. Let differences  cease with an open mind, shorn of personalities but adhering to the greatest benefit which deservedly all pensioners must secure & derive. Let these 2 Fedns join hands, hit the common formula, as choice is clear, present a common plank & win we must. It is Do or Die situation, it is Now or Never, no one has the patience to rehearse the court scenes all afresh & again, as we have withered away due to weary, prolonged battle.

I really don’t find, therefore, any need for any Joint Action Committee, as loyalties may not change, but bury the hatchet, accept the overriding principle as mantra to cure ills of pensioners. Efforts last 12/13 years by Sri KML Asthana  has been commendable, his dogged efforts has paid dividends, such consistent & committed presentation has won acclaim & none need find any fault at this stage, except to hasten the proceedings to a victorious culmination.This last strategy of a combined synergic effort with similar aim & goal, especially on the part of those spearheading the legal cases in courts, should annex the finished product of a Final Victory which all pensioners  are craving for. Let that openness, frankness & transparency creep in, without an iota of suspicion. Let  cooperation & coexistence, goodwill & generosity become the hallmark of functioning to defeat the opposing, powerful force,which Sri MSM rightly characterised as mindless & heartless. Sri MSM can also offer his pointed replies & forceful  rejoinders to LIC in the latest SLPs point by point to give an aroma of special legal acumen. When date of hearing is known for SC, there is a dire need to engage Sr Counsel & that is being borne in mind.

Matters like Family pension, additional value-added pension after 80yrs, Protection of last drawn pay, Domiciliary benefit, preventive Health Care benefit, Consultative Committee & a few more in Charter of Demands – such demands one can get easily & forcefully, instead of multiple talks on same subject by different Fedns, with a Joint Action Committee to face the management & secure with some deadline, for the benefit of all pensioners.

Lastly, it is a lacuna & a tragedy that Employees of insurance industry only are not supporting pensioners, though all are aware Today’s Employees are Tomorrow’s  Pensioners. Employees & pensioners are indeed the Heads & Tails of the same Coin. These  4/5 years of active legal turbulence coupled with plethora of email netwok expansion unprecedented & added to the Vehicle of Views & News of licpensioners chronicleblog must atleast induce, refine & soften the rigid stand of Employees Unions to decide to stand shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand with Pensioners Fedns in the joint, combined, gigantic & galvanized might & right of all those thousands of employees & pensioners who indeed made this glittering institution what it is today. Hope lies eternal in human breast. Let that bell toll now.

  Greetings, Goodluck & Godspeed,
R.B.KISHORE,VP,AIRIEF