Dear Editor,
It is heartening to note, in the build up to 10th March newer points are emerging. While they may not be totally irrelevant to our cases before the Apex Court, are they so vitally important and going to be game-changers? I don’t understand what on earth made Mr.Ramanathan to bring in the discrimination issue pertaining to pre-2001 and post 2001 pensioner MDs and Chairmen. Is it more important than the discrimination in DR between the pre-1997 and post-1997 being suffered by thousands of pensioners?. Likewise, has LICs bungling in the computation of the DR arrears which in no way even partially fulfills the figures arrived at by Mr.Mahadevan anything to do with the case coming up on 10th March. When the three of our leaders are determined to go their chosen way, does it really matter whether Mr.Ramanathan is sharing his “legal secrets” with Mr.Asthana or anybody else. Why this digression and distraction at the eleventh hour? Is it that we have taken a vow that we will never learn from our past mistakes? The questions can go on and on, but without any result worth its salt.
Let us try to understand. Our case is rock solid. Two sets of pensioners who have put in the same length of service and retired in the same post but on different dates can never be discriminated against each other. To quote George Orwell , one cannot take the position, “all are equal, but some are more equal than the others”. It is blatant discrimination ,anti-constitutional and cant find approval in any law books. There are decided case laws supporting this view in the past. LIC has the financial capability to bear the burden. It won’t be easy picking for any judge to completely overlook this incontrovertible truth and deliver a contradictory verdict, either taking refuge under Sec.48 or provisions in the LIC Pension Rules ,1995. We have, in the columns of the PC has comprehensively thrashed out almost all interventional adversarial points. Such a simplistic, straightforward and uncomplicated case, through infighting ,egoism and one-upmanship we have complicated it beyond recognition. It is becoming murkier and more muddled as months and years pass by.
The case is awaiting final hearing on 10th March. If the case is so straightforward and simple what then is ailing the proceedings?. The reasons are not far to seek. It is evident from the way people have already started reacting. The “Eastern News” ,March Issue is an eye-opener in this regard. Because of the eminence and imposing presence of reputed counsels representing LIC our advocates become diminutive and perhaps not able to collect their act together. It is said that even the Judges get intuitively get influenced by their presence. This appears to be the cause for LIC always managing adjournments and we, not able to get an opportunity to present our case properly. Someone rightly observed in one of his posts that the case should be fought effectively in the Court room and not in the blogs. Very true. So, instead of wasting the time and getting distracted by issues which are irrelevant at the moment, focus on Upgradation of pension, as DR parity is almost a settled one sans the computational conundrum. As promised by them, make sure that our case is top in the list and most of all create proper environment to place our arguments effectively and in a convincing manner. Choosing our counsel should be given paramount importance and for a change LIC should face denial of another adjournment. This is definitely not the time to think about anything else.
There is discrimination all around us. We find the judges discriminating between advocates of eminence and small time operators. Government is discriminating the citizens as nationalists and non-nationalists .In short, discrimination engulfs the entire universe in some form or the other. We cant do anything about it. Let us focus on the discrimination we , as pensioners are facing today due to differential pension and DR and stop with that. Victory will be ours.
With Greetings,
M.V.VENUGOPALAN