2. I have given elucidation & so many worthwhile dissertations,interpretations,facts of the matter or case, repercussions with a neutral,impartial mind, shorn of emotion. My detailed & all encompassing submissions on Pension matters found a place in the blog LIC Pensioners Chronicle. My observations,reflections,recapitulation & reinforcement writeup also appeared in same blog. Always we activists rose to the occasion & gave positive inputs to Sri Asthana with speed, accuracy, quality, reliable & dependable data & virtually by now many activists have become advocates quoting legal language & lexicon .
3. That the new BOARD members have done,with full faith in pensioners modest demands & right stance & course of justice,after we at different levels met them, & they spoke to LIC Chairman, some met him too & underlined the dire need for quick acceptance of court verdict with grace, was a forward movement indeed.
4. THAT some RIEAs,Retired Insurance Employees’Associations translated email to LIC Board Members in regional language & distributed to pensioners & conveyed an overwhelming affirmation of a very just cause & forcefully driving home our demands & solution is a happy phase& progress of events.
5. Are we not happy Sri Asthana has scaled such heights that throughout so far, nothing but climbing peak assiduously , even if tumultuous & turbulent,
6. Are you not happy that every Order or judgement, pensioners case presentation, pensioners image was going high, in spite of hiccups & Pensioners Fedn not seeing eye to eye. Impossible is not in the dictionary of marketing force, so too, if Writs are proper, if arguments & submissions by our counsels are appropriate & impeccable, we pensioners can confidently assert that we are one upmanship in the legal battle,which all want to see to its logical conclusion with curtains finally down.
7. If we presume none can get pension upgradation other than Govt employees, we are sidetracking the issue, we can’t find solutions to our genuine grievances, we don’t have Think Big, Act Big attitude. It is Attitude, not Aptitude which determines Altitude..Tune up,Tone up,Arise, Awake,Arouse awareness, & consciousness ,educate & enlighten,come to grips with the problem,be thorough with the subject matter from all angles. Above all, remember Courage is not the absence of fear,it is the conquest of fear.Conquer we will, we shall if truth ,equity & justice exist & have to prevail. March ahead with Confidence, trust in God & Courts & keep the powder dry.
8. In all these,we displayed a clinical & professional attitude,from start to now & of course certainly to finish to reach the victory post. How many cases of SC, other HCs, even contempt cases resulting in specific orders from Hon Judges , we have circulated. Did those not strengthen your positive thinking & a feeling of elation that everything has gone correct with reason & logic. Arguments are unassailable & totally in our favour.
9. To dance to the tune of MOF/UOI,to obey their dictates at the cost of Reality, Truth, Justice, pensioners reeling under high inflation with a static Basic Pension for 20 years in IV PC mode,smacks of total disregard of genuine & modest demands of pensioners, not able to lead same standard of living as before,which is avowed SC obiter dicta as described in Magna Carta for pensioners, the famous Nakara judgement by 5-judge SC Bench presided over by eminent Hon Justice Chandrachud .When pensioners brought halo & glory to the institution with long dedicated, devoted services of 35 years& more, in the twilight of their lives, the sparkle of pension upgradation voiced by multiple case laws of many Courts, SC,& any discrimination & attack on Fundamental Rights enshrined in our Constitution, must be granted with an open mind, fair & transparent, restoring the pride & position which SC & HCs enjoy unfettered.
10. Are we not sure that a mere DR rise alone does not solve the problem of grotesque & monstrous anomalies, when 8 cadres below get more pension than seniors retired earlier. It is a coloured , partial view, not a holistic one leaving main issue of standing help & permanent remedy to pensioners unaddressed & so unresolved. Tinkering won’t suffice.
11. Are we not feeling pinch when we spend enormous amount on daily needs of sustenance & food for family? With inflation rampant, the meagre pension shrinks & the low pension stinks.VI PC Maximum pension is a whopping Rs52,200 plus DR as against VPC maximum Rs.33,075. FP as 30% of Basic Pay will shoot up to Rs.21,000 plus DR !! Where are we, far far behind & yet we want to be in that desperate & despicable position !!
12. Are you not spending through your nose for regular illness & disease for pensioner & spouse throughout the year at this advanced age & it eats into your meagre pension.? How much we spend for ever so many Special reports & laboratory tests ,which are not reimbursable! Teeth & dental are virtually out of mediclaim ambit, unfortunate even genuine cases certified cannot be accepted ,a matter of shame ,not all can be claimed as beautification.
13. The fact of the matter is Management does not empathise with pensioners when Domiciliary allowance is granted ranging from Rs.4000—Rs 12,000pa to employees,when Preventive Health check up is liberally allowed for Employees right from age 40 with frequency stepped up,wef 1/1/2013.In fact, more than any other,it is aged seniors & pensioners who need this benefit but still no solution . Management sympathises, they say, it is crocodile tears.Mercy, as Shakespeare said is twice blessed, it blesseth him that gives and blesseth him that takes.Whither Mercy ! Will they ever empathise?
14. Look at ex-gratia for pre-1986 retirees , 87 years old & above by now through sheer passage of time, they are. Does it require any big calculation when we realize how from 5500 ,this group has shrunk to a mere 950.Yet, when RBI has revised 4 times in 10 years, they wholeheartedly allowed MMA,Monthly Medical Allowance ranging from Rs. 3400—Rs.5600 from Class IV to Grade F/ED .Some banks also have emulated this. LIC won’t. Last year, a pittance of Rs1000 to retiree & Rs.500 to spouse was granted.
15. For bad precedents in Govt, try to implement in Financial sector. For good precedents in Govt,try not to implement for causes unknown & without rhyme or reason. This looks to be the Motto of LIC & Govt.
16. Rahul Gandhi used the term RTI 50 times in his flop interview & credit must go to Parliament, Judiciary& CIOs ,fine. But where is National Litigation Policy ,in the limbo. Pension cases of Elders/Sr Citizens pending for 10/15 more years is a blot on Institutions, MOF/UOI & Judiciary too.Throughout,it is a struggle for pensioners, activists with undying dedication, service & sacrifice at great personal inconvenience & telling upon health too. It is sickening & stultifying to go through this morass of court procedures, hijacking by Management & MOF/UOI, not effectively curtailed by Courts leaving such a tragic trail of large number of deaths of pensioners,without accountability & responsibility pinned on those who must own this .
17. Nakara judgement regarded & still hailed as Magna Carta for pensioners & a host of other SC,HC, Tribunal awards ,enunciating solid principles & sound constitutional rights declarations & that pension is neither a bounty nor alms to pensioners are solid & striking. The Apex court, inter alia, had observed, "The pensioners form a homogeneous group and cannot be discriminated on the basis of a cut off date or on the basis of date of retirement. Such a discrimination is void and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India..." The Apex court has held that " Pension is statutory, legally enforceable right of pensioners and pension should be revised, fixed not entirely dissimilar to the salaries of serving employees.”
What more is needed. Categorical assertions by SC cannot be brushed aside.Pessimists & cassandras must move in the right direction now atleast.If democracy is of, by & for the people, this is certainly of, by & for the pensioners.
18. LIC has earned many top of the crust awards due to scintillating performance in all parameters.When it is Kamadhenu to Govt,one cannot understand total subservience to Govt in decision making & utter lack of autonomy. We know Govt spent Rs.35,000 cr on pension after V PC & this will be much higher after VI PC implementation. Even loss-making PSEs are allowed with contribution from Govt & partial funding by them.This is atrocious by any standards.You can go on diluting principles when it is a bureaucratic decision but throttle powers of Top Management of financial & service sectors, the real engine of growth. Leave them alone,allow independence, let a hundred flowers bloom.UOI demolishes decision-making power, their dominance is insulting,& employees/pensioners not able to secure the best. HR becomes secondary, sad.
19. (a) Sri M.P.Agnihotri,Bhopal refers to a judgement passed by Hon’ble Jammu & Kashmir HC in the case “Dr. Sajad Majid vs Dr. Syed Zahoor Ahmed And Anr” which, inter alia, states as under:
“Mere preferment of an appeal does not automatically operate as a stay of the decision under appeal and till an application for stay is moved and granted bythe appellate Court, or, in the alternative, the Court which rendered the decision is moved and grants an interim stay of the decision pending the preferment of an appeal and grant of stay by the appellate Court, the decision continues to be operative. Indeed, non-compliance with the decision on the mere ground that an appeal is contemplated to be preferred or is actually preferred, and that, therefore, the matter is sub-judice, may amount to contempt of Court punishable under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.
(b) Above all, the Supreme Court in identical situation has laid the following rule:
A subordinate Court or Tribunal refusing to follow a High Court decision where a petition for leave to appeal to Supreme Court against that High Court decision was pending, held amounts to deliberate disobedience and wilful disregard of the High Court and is contempt of Court.”
A subordinate Court or Tribunal refusing to follow a High Court decision where a petition for leave to appeal to Supreme Court against that High Court decision was pending, held amounts to deliberate disobedience and wilful disregard of the High Court and is contempt of Court.”
20. The following observations of Hon’ble SC in a recent judgement is quite apt in our situations as well (though subject matter is different but the tenet is equally applicable):
“Rajeshwar Singh Vs. Subrata Roy Sahara & Ors.
[Contempt Petition (Civil) No.224 of 2011]
[Civil Appeal No.10660 of 2010]
K.S. Radhakrishnan, J.
Courts, if they are to serve the cause of justice, must have the power to secure obedience to its orders to prevent interference with the proceedings and to protect the reputation of the legal system, its components and its personnel, who on its behest carry on a court monitored investigation. The court is duty bound to protect the dignity and authority of this Court, at any cost, or else, the entire administration of justice will crumble and law and order would be a casualty.
J. (G.S. Singhvi) J. (K.S. Radhakrishnan)
New Delhi, December 9, 2013.”
21. It is not every case where the apex court finds that some injustice has been done that it would grant Special Leave and interfere. That would be converting the apex court into a regular court of appeal and moreover, by so doing, the apex court would soon be reduced to a position where it will find itself unable to remedy any injustice at all, on account of the tremendous backlog of cases which is bound to accumulate. “We must realize that in the vast majority of cases, the High Courts must become final, even if they are wrong",said SC analysis & findings.
22. It is Justice Mathew's opinion that- "To say that no litigant should be turned out of the Supreme Court so long as he has a grievance may be good populistic propaganda but the consequence of accepting such a demand would surely defeat the great purpose for which the Court was established under our constitutional system. It is high time we recognize the need for the Supreme Court to entertain under Article 136 only those cases which measure up to the significance of the national or public importance. The effort, then, must therefore be to voluntarily cut the coat of jurisdiction according to the cloth of importance of the question and not to expand the same with a view to satisfy every litigant who has the means to pursue his cause."
23. It may be mentioned that Article 136, like Article 226, is a discretionary remedy, and this Court(Supreme) is not bound to interfere, even if there is an error of law or fact in the impugned order.
24. Chandigarh, December 11,2013 The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear to the governments of Punjab and Haryana, along with the Chandigarh Administration, that they must accept and implement in true spirit and command the judgements that have attained finality; and grant same relief to “other members of the cadre whose claim was based upon identical facts and points of law”.
Justice MMS Bedi made this clear during the hearing of a petition filed by Jagir Singh against UHBVN and others. He submitted a legal notice on August 16 for grant of higher pay scale with all consequential benefits. Disposing of the petition, Justice Bedi directed an Executive Engineer to decide the legal notice by passing a speaking order within three months after receiving the order’s certified copy.
Referring to the HC judgement pronounced in 2002 in the case of Satbir Singh versus the State of Haryana on the issue of implementing court orders, Justice Bedi asserted that the directions contained in the ruling and circulated to the Chief Secretaries of Punjab and Haryana, along with the UT Adviser, would be taken into consideration.
Quoting the judgement, Justice Bedi recapped, “Wherever the right of the parties have been settled by a judgement of the court, the state has taken all remedies available to it in law against the judgement even up to the highest court of the land. When the judgement has attained finality, the State must accept the judgement and implement it in its true spirit and command.
“The state government shall, as expeditiously as possible and in any case not later than four months, re-act and respond to a legal notice or representation served upon it by any of its employees in redressal of his grievance or grant of relief, which has been granted to his co-employee similarly situated, in furtherance to the judgement of the court.
“In the event an employee is compelled to approach the court of law, whereupon the court awards interest and/or costs while allowing such a petition, the expenditure incurred by the State, including costs or interest paid in furtherance to the orders of the court should be recovered from the erring officer(s).
“The quarters concerned of the government are expected to work out the details in furtherance to the above directions and issue pervasive, but definite, instructions to all its departments forthwith to ensure compliance.”
25. It is conspicuous & clear that Hon SJ adjudicated on both issues of Full DR & pension upgradation with sound submissions by all parties & citing several case laws in support of the same with valid , justifiable & justiciable reasons forcefully depicted in judgement unambiguously.To deny this is to deny full equity, justice, fair play & sabotage Fundamental Rights enshrined in Constitution which no Court can allow to be tampered under any circumstances.Human rights cannot be allowed to be trampled upon . Fixity of notions on the part of the Respondent to deny pension upgradation is a severe contempt of this HC& not to implement for so many years by an extension of Respondents own Board sanctified Resolution dt 24/11/2001 to subsequent wage revisions as was delineated by Hon SJ in his judgement dt 12/1/2010 is a standing example of the adamancy & single track mind of Respondent to nullify hard earned judgement with heavy costs & expenses in many directions strictly not affordable by pensioners fraternity, yet borne with patience & endurance to solicit victory for the just, modest & legitimate demands of pensioners. One cannot throw all the positive & unanimous judgements from many HCs mentioned above as irrelevant & unjustifiable from any point of view.
Let AIRIEF & warrior Sri ASTHANA’S efforts be crowned with a thumping success on 6th February,2014. Faith & Prayers collectively can bring positive resonance & a favourable judgement in pensioners’ favour.
R.B. KISHORE,VP, AIRIEF