A little
warm up exercise, before I go in to the topic proper: I was very happy to read Sri
M V Venugopalan’s three-part Post in the PC that came after his slightly longish
sabbatical. It was refreshing indeed for the sheer flow of (his) thoughts. Although he revisited several old &
forgotten Posts in the PC with his critical references and has now additionally
picked up new ones which he likes to see as one-upmanship, publicity overkill,
ego trip etc., somehow, none of what he wrote (even if he was faulting my
views/actions/opinions directly or obliquely) bother me at all. Thanks perhaps to my daily dose of Vishen
Lakhiani’s 6 Phase guided Meditation, OMVANA – Incidentally, I strongly
recommend it to everybody if they are not already introduced to it.
Let me respond
to some of MVV’s observations on our case proper and his evaluation of the
initiatives I felt necessary and took. It is clear he has not taken kindly to
my and Mr V Krishnan’s visit to Yogakshema to meet ED (P) & MD. He is welcome
and is entitled to his opinion on the desirability and the effort-benefit
analysis as he wishes to make about our visit. But has he not crossed the Lakshman Rekha when he tried to dub the
visit as an unproductive hype and publicity overkill’? In my view this is a typical instance of freelance opinion-circulation by those with
less accountability. Having said so, I appeal to Mr MVV to keep his word –
THINK OVER.
By the way, he
is uncomfortable to anything said by others against GNS & KML but his
standards are different when he chooses to go against me. Dear MVV, enjoy your
freedom of expression but be fair to all if you can. I am OK with anything.
MVV was
damn right when he said LIC does not move one step forward without clearance
from their bosses – the Department of Financial Services. (May be quite true
about the modern LIC management but certainly NOT so when Mr V Krishnan was the
PS to Chairman; Hope Mr MVV got my point right).
Then why
did we visit? Not for cultivating any new relationships with anybody. Too late
in the day, as ‘we are already on the wrong side of 70’, if I may quote MVV himself.
If Mr MVV cared to peruse the memorandum I gave to ED (P) he would have been
sufficiently enlightened on how we put LIC on Notice on interpreting the 7th
May Order. Luckily for me Mr MVV spared
from his scrutiny, my meeting with the Director, DFS in Delhi and the letter I
handed over to him personally. Or was it by oversight?
My
meeting with ED (P) on 5th June gave me an opportunity to make a
follow up call to him which I did on Monday morning. I asked him and he informed
me that no decision is taken as yet, (on the method) for implementing
the 7th May SC Order, but they are on the job.
I would
consider my efforts highly fruitful if LIC approaches SC sooner than later (of
course after securing the all-important nod from the DFS) for clarification on
the correct import of the Order – on ‘pay whom’, ‘pay how much’ etc., Or
approach SC for more time beyond six weeks.
In either case, we get an opportunity to tell the SC our views and
concerns on what 20% is meant to be. When we get such an opportunity we have a
good chance of convincing the Bench that LIC needs to distribute about Rs. 600
crores (@ Rs 1.5 lakhs per head on an average) being 20% of the total dues. I may be pardoned for repeating this, 7th
May Order therefore is a wonderful breakthrough and we should not fail to
leverage it to our advantage.
I am also
not tired of repeating my strong belief and authentic opinion that the Order
dated 7th May 2015 giving the interim directions has nothing to do
with the issues in the main CAs or the new SLPs, contentious or otherwise OR with
the likely final outcome of the cases before the Apex Court. The Order has to
be seen in isolation and independent of anything else. Also, for its
implementation, it does not distinguish among any of the THREE sets of
Respondents in the CAs. All have equal say and claim on the benefits flowing
from the Order, strictly in terms of what is stated therein (or how it may be
clarified subsequently).
By way of
an update on the status of the interim directions, it is now clear to me that
nothing of any significance is going to happen before 18th June, as
far as individual petitioners/pensioners are concerned. At best some Application
may be moved by LIC (either before or soon after the reopening of the Supreme
Court) either seeking more time or better still for us – asking for
clarification on ‘to whom’, ‘how much’ to pay? etc., If and when it happens accordingly,
we have all the ammunition to be placed before the Bench to secure sensible
clarifications on what the Order was meant to be.
On the
other hand, if LIC makes some nominal payment to a few and claims to have
complied with the Order, OR takes no action at all, we have no choice other
than moving the Apex Court for contempt. The field then is open for all and
there is no control on time element for anybody. All our efforts at the moment
are directed towards alerting LIC against any wrong step and simultaneously
plead with the Government not to let LIC do anything unfair and unjust.
I can
never understand why a few people are not comfortable with what I am doing. But
I have no ill will towards them. I will leave the topic there for now with an
assurance to all that I am open to any constructive suggestions and course
correction, in the interests of our fellow Pensioners.
M
Sreenivasa Murty