We reproduce hereunder the Editorial of 'Elders Voice' - May 2014, a house magazine of SBI Pensioners' Association, Chennai Circle.
All the pensioners are much disappointed and dismayed over the indefinite delays being caused even in allowing the Courts to adjudicate on the decisions taken initially under the discretion vested with the executive machinery and subsequently made as statutory provisions of our pension fund rules. Our legal justice system unfortunately is deliberately being subjected to vexatious litigation by our powerful employers - our Bank and the Government. The recent events establish beyond any doubt that our Bank and Government are only keen on perpetuating our pension issues to remain in the domain of litigation. It is not concerned about expending the public money in unproductive litigations. It is not concerned on overburdening the judiciary by resorting to all dilatory tactics by relentlessly increasing its workload with transfer petitions involving a large number of pensioners of our Bank, who were forced to seek remedies under Article 226 by filing W.Ps in various High Courts of our Country, which have jurisdictions on adjudication of our pension issues.
2. The Government, R.B.I. and our Bank, who are the Respondents in the W.P. filed by our Federation, have the responsibility to abide by our Constitution and its spirit. The Government and Public Sector Undertakings are not expected to engage in unproductive litigation expending public funds. They have got responsibility to avoid litigation or reduce it at any cost and thereby bring down the load on our court system and the cost on our judicial set up. Our Bank is resorting to all these litigations knowing fully well that the relief sought by the petitioners is the same as recommended in its proposal dated 30th October 2002 submitted by it to the Government and it does not therefore have any justification to be a party to prolonging the litigations resorted to by our Federation and other individual pensioners for securing their pension on the basis of its own recommendations. Our Bank does not have any justification to enrich its Advocates by ignoring its own well justified and adjudicated proposals submitted to the Government. Unfortunately with the protection available under the RTI Act, the decisions by Public Authorities on unwarranted litigations involving utterly wasteful expenditure continue unabated. The Courts have also pointed out that the fight between individuals and the Government / Public Sector Undertakings is by any stretch, an unequal battle. The individuals with limited resources can never match the unlimited resources of the Govt/ PSUs and this contest is always an unequal one. In the absence of a social audit on the legal expenses incurred by our Bank and Government and the lack of Accountability, the legal profession only thrives by such a patronage, unmindful of the injustice being caused to us.
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3. The resolution of all of our pension issues does not involve any complicated legal issues. The laws in this regard are well settled by the various pronouncements of the Supreme Court with the principles well laid down in the Nakara's Judgment, V. Kasturi Judgment and various other subsequent pronouncements. Clear directions are available on the validity or otherwise of the cut off dates stipulated on pension matters. With same facts and case laws presented on pension matters, there is no scope for any conflicting decisions. The Government/PSUs should not try to secure a verdict in its favour by hook or crook. They should meet honest claims and never aim to score a technical victory or take unfair advantage of weaker parties, because legal devices provide such an opportunity. They should not yearn for an immoral victory, when on merit they do not have a case or their case is weak. They should scrupulously comply with the laws themselves and strictly abide by the law laid down by the Supreme Court in its various judgments. They should not stand in the way of providing natural justice.
4. It is most unfortunate that our Bank acts against its own conscience dictated by the bureaucracy which is only keen on perpetuating its unjust decisions and depriving us from getting our legitimate pension benefits. The well established basis of computing our pension on last drawn salary was not followed on seventh bipartite pay scales, depriving the entitled pension of more than 30,000 pensioners of our Bank. A number of pensioners living in different parts of our Country were forced to resort to several Writ Petitions in the High Courts of their jurisdiction from the year 2000 onwards, after our Federation withdrew its W.Ps filed in the Supreme Court under Article 32 in 2000. All the W.Ps are languishing in different High Courts without much progress. In the case of nine W.Ps/W.As filed in the year 2001 to 2008 partly heard by the Division Bench of Madras High Court, our Bank has filed nine Transfer Petitions in the Supreme Court in May 2013, after the W.P. filed in March 2011 by our Federation in the Supreme Court was transferred by Supreme Court to Delhi High Court as per its directions issued on 27-02-2013. Our Bank/Government did neither bring to the notice of the Supreme Court the W.Ps which were pending in various High Courts nor sought transfer of these cases to Delhi High Court during the hearing of the W.P. filed by our Federation. There are many other W.Ps/W.As pending in other High Courts.
5. The exercise of filing transfer petitions by our Bank is a vexatious one, with complex procedures required to be followed for this purpose. Our Bank having recommended in October 2002 itself the payment of pension at 50% of the pensionable pay subject to only one ceiling at 50% of pay does not have any case against the relief sought on pension in these W.Ps. The need for obtaining the sanction from the Government for granting the relief sought cannot be a justification for itself filing transfer petitions and preventing the Delhi High Court to adjudicate over the issues raised by our Federation in its W.P. The transfer petitions have been filed only to cause indefinite delays in the adjudication of the case of our Federation by Delhi High Court. The transfer petitions will be taken up by the Supreme Court for adjudication only after service to all the pensioners/petitioners is complete and opportunity is given to them for presenting their statements. With a large number of petitioners living in different centres and with the change of their addresses, this process itself would be time consuming and involving much work load at the Courts. Similarly, in case of transfer of these W.Ps to Delhi High Court, the hearing of Delhi High Court would commence only after service to all the parties is complete. The completion of service to all parties would itself take indefinite time. Our Bank/Government may contemplate filing Transfer Petitions in respect of other W.Ps pending in other High Courts as well and thus would take further steps for perpetuating this litigation.
6. On the plea that the adjudication by different High Courts may lead to conflicting judgments, our Bank has sought directions from the Supreme Court for the transfer of the W.Ps/ W.As pending in Madras High Court. On our pension issues, as the law is well laid down, there is no scope for conflicting judgments based on same facts and case laws to be pronounced by the High Courts. In any case it is most unjust to force the pensioners living in different parts of our Country to pursue their legal action with their limited resources in the capital city of our Country. This deprives the right conferred on them under Article 226 of our Constitution in securing legal remedy from the High Courts having jurisdiction for granting them the relief. No citizen seeking relief against unjust decisions of the State and its instrumentalities should be forced to incur legal expenditure beyond their means, that too against all powerful Public Authorities. The Supreme Court should not lend support to the vexatious legal proceedings indulged in by our Bank/Government.
7. Our Bank has however succeeded in getting directions from the Supreme Court on one Transfer Petition filed by it. It sought the transfer of a W.P. filed in the Jharkhand High Court, Ranchi to Delhi High Court. This W.P. was filed on 8-03-2010 by one pensioner who is now practising in Delhi as an Advocate on Record in the Supreme Court with his consent, the Supreme Court has ordered the transfer of his W.P. to Delhi High Court. The Delhi High Court has since ordered the issue of notices to the parties and posted it for hearing on 25-09-2014 along with the W.P. filed by our Federation. This petitioner retired voluntarily as an Assistant Manager on 30-04-1998 with twenty two years of pensionable service is eligible for a maximum pension at 37% of his pensionable pay. His prayer is for payment of pension computed as per our Pension Fund Rule 23(1) on his last drawn pensionable pay as per Seventh Bipartite Pay Scales and on the basis of amendments made to our Pension Fund Rule 23(2) providing for payment of pension at 50% of pay up to Rs.8,500/- and at 40% of pay if the pay exceeds Rs.8,500/- with effect from 1-03-1999. This Petitioner in his W.P. is seeking relief from our Bank, as only our Bank, the Trustees of our Pension Fund and the Branch Manager of his Pension paying Branch are made as Respondents. The pleadings in this W.P. were complete and this W.P. was ready for final hearing by the Jharkhand High Court. At this stage, our Bank has managed to get this W.P. transferred to Delhi High Court. Based on the submissions made by our Bank in its proposals submitted to the Government, our Bank should have granted relief sought by this petitioner on merit without any contest. But with a vexatious approach and with a view to perpetuating its litigation this W.P. involving an issue of payment of pension only at 37% of pensionable pay is transferred to Delhi High Court and has been posted for hearing on 25-09-2014 along with our W.P. An objective view by the Judiciary expose the unfair means adopted by the Respondents for prolonging the litigation unmindful of the fact that most of us are on the evening of our lives waiting to be called by the Almighty at short notice. With our pension corpus presently at more than Rs.40,000 crores, our Bank is comfortably placed to grant us the relief sought in the W.P. of our Federation. With immense faith in our Judiciary, we trust that our efforts made over the years should definitely yield beneficial results notwithstanding the several manipulative tactics of the Respondents.