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Tuesday, June 28, 2016

HOW LIC HAS COMPLIED WITH THE SUPREME COURT ORDER DATED 31/3/2016


The information received by Mr  C S Murty  under the RTI Act  reveals the following information:-

Total number of Pensioners/Family Pensioners who have been paid 40% Interim Relief:   15286

Total amount of 40% IR paid  : Rs 27,23,17,955

Average IR paid per pensioner=  Rs 17815

It will be worthwhile to compare the number of pensioners who have received the 40% IR with the  total number of pre-August 1997 retirees  as at 1/8/2003.
The following table gives the statistics of pre-August 1997 retirees as at 1/8/2003 and 20/2/2009 as per the information obtained under RTI Act:



This  indicates  that  out of 21762  as many as 5264  constituting 24.2% have  expired  resulting in addition of as many family pensioners less  a small number where spouses might have predeceased the retirees.

The number 15286 may include this number plus the family pensioners   of those retirees who had expired after1/1/1986 but before the notification of the LIC Pension Rules. So there is a gap of 6476 pensioners, presumably family pensioners who have been left out of payment of IR.

As per the information received from Jaipur Divisional Office, about payment of IR ,out of 138  pensioners to whom IR was paid, as many as 28 constituting 20.9%  have received single digit  amounts towards IR.These pensioners must be presumably  family pensioners. Besides the above there are also family pensioners who have received IR due to the regular pensioners from 1/8/1997 upto the date of their death thereafter and who might have received the single digit family pension IR. 59 out of 138 pensioners who received IR are family pensioners constituting 42.75% for Jaipur Divisional office.

The corresponding percentage for Chandigarh Divisional office  as per the data obtained by Mr C S Murty, is 46.15% out of a total of 260 pensioners who received IR.In case of this Division 21.9% of the pensioners(presumably all family pensioners) received single digit  amount towards IR.

Out of the 15286 pensioners to whom payment was made, if we apply the percentage of 40% as the percentage of family pensioners, we can assume that about 9000 regular pensioners must have received the interim relief as per LIC’s faulty calculation. Out of the  remaining 6286( mostly family pensioners) about 3000  must have received single digit amounts and the remaining  more than 3200 family pensioners  must have  also  received the IR due to the deceased  retirees from 1/8/1997 upto the date of their death in addition to the single digit family pension IR.

The average IR per pensioner works out to Rs 17815 for the Corporation as a whole, while it is Rs 26403 for Jaipur Divisional Office pensioners and Rs 20459 for Chandigarh Divisional Office pensioners.

·      The safe conclusion  from the above data (although inadequate) will be that LIC has not complied with the SC Order  dated 31/3/2016 in respect of at least 30% of  eligible pensioners and that among  those who were paid  interim relief,  family pensioners constituting about 40%  would have received single digit amounts towards family pension IR and list.

·      The other conclusion that can be drawn is that the non-application of para 3A of Appendix IV is responsible for short payment of interim relief amounts received  by regular pensioners and family pensioners, resulting in a  huge deficit  ranging from 70% to 90% in case  of regular pensioners and  almost 99.9% in case of family pensioners.

Now let us wait to see what LIC has to state in its affidavit  to be submitted to the Delhi High Court.

Greetings


C H Mahadevan