* CHRONICLE - PENSIONERS CONVERGE HERE, DISCUSS ISSUES OF THEIR CHOICE * CHRONICLE - WHERE EVEN THE CHAT COLUMN PRODUCES GREAT DISCUSSIONS * CHRONICLE - WHERE THE MUSIC IS RISING IN CRESCENDO !

               
                                   

Thursday, March 26, 2015

ONWARD TO APRIL 8TH, 2015


The report of proceedings in the 
Supreme Court yesterday are quite 
interesting.

For one we know the names of counsels for appellants and respondents.
Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sushma Suri, Nidheesh Gupta, R K Singh,
Jay Savla, Shriram Panchu ..names of these legal luminaries are by now
known to all LIC Pensioners (or atleast to those who go through LICPC).
That adds to our knowledge and makes us wiser.

The forceful point made by Abhishek Manu Singhvi was that the updation
would cost Rs.9700 crores, involves policy matter of Government etc.
He emphatically stated that LIC Board is not autonomous.

Shri CH. MAHADEVAN rightly said that the figure 9700 should not make
us nervous. If any one should be indignant that he is denied a portion of
this figure all these years. Students of mathematics are not scared by
the bigness of figures. Figures are important for politicians and in highlighting
SCAMS. What is 9700 compared to the huge figures revealed by CAG ? Just
peanuts for Government and LIC.

If anyone has to take notice of the figure 9700 Crores I feel it is the
organisations and trade unions representing LIC Employees (those still
in service). Time they say something in this matter.

Hon'ble Justice J Misra quipped: " Are LIC Pensioners governed by pension
rules or not? Whether pension rules provide for updation?"

We would have been the happiest lot if only pension rules explicitly
provided for updation of pension instead of stating that C G Pension Rules
will apply in all residual matters. Perhaps there would not have been
a need to encroach upon the precious time of Hon'ble Supreme Court.

Our cases are now PART HEARD. It was said 'heard melodies are sweet
but those unheard are sweeter.' The unheard portion is going to be
crucial. Scoring points over one another, bickerings are all part of the
game and may be unavoidable when more than one organisation
appear on the stage. But nobody should feel hurt at live telecast. Nobody
disputes that maturity should prevail.

So friends and Comrades, time to pull up our trousers, tighten the belts,
go fully prepared before the bench and most importantly ensure
that the Counsels, all of them, are present in the Court Hall on the next
important day, I may add, would it not be better and wiser if all the 
counsels representing pensioners consult each other even if informally
and fire their salvos without missing the target.

So, onward to April 8th, 2015.
B. Ganga Raju Hyderabad