A TOTALLY POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT

Dear Shri.Gangadharan,

The Supreme Courts Order of the 7th 
should be looked at as a 'Glass Half Full', 
and not as one 'Half Empty' : A totally positive
development looked at from any angle. 
With this, we can say that we
have made a clean break with the past. 
No doubt, what the order
contains will be known only when we get 
hold of it.The Devil is in the Details.

Reading between the lines, my surmise is that the order is, perhaps,
referring only to interim payment of 20% arrears of difference in DR
to all the pre-1997 retirees. This is partly corroborated by the fact,
that while the DR is almost a settled issue (Jaipur,Punjab & Chandigarh
and Delhi High court decisions), the upgradation conundrum
doesn't enjoy the same status. Moreover, while the arrears of
difference in DR is easily quantifiable, the arrears arising out of
difference in pension is not and hence the relevance of time limit of
six weeks by the Apex Court. Or, in other words, this is a grey
area. Mr.G.N.Sreedharan, has highlighted this aspect by saying that
while SLPs are filed only against Jaipur Court judgement, no SLP is
filed by the GOI against Delhi High court judgement. If the part payment
is restricted only to the petitioners, then the complications cited by
Shri.Mahadevan will come to the fore. As far as the DA issue is
concerned the Govt. also doesn't seem to be disinclined.

Our Case Managers and their counsel deserve our unqualified praise
and appreciation for this major breakthrough. In September, not only
our Case Managers and their counsels converge in Delhi physically but
with convergence of views March towards the Supreme Court. Till then,
as one Blogger advised, let us try to Manage a DVD of "COME
SEPTEMBER" or at least its poorer cousin "ANBE VAA", a remake of the
same movie in Tamil.

One who fights and runs away lives to fight another Day, so goes the
saying. So let our Jaipur friends, in particular, equip themselves
legally to carry on the fight from September.

Last but not the least, our sincere thanks and gratitude to the
Editor for keeping us all wired all the time.