Case :- SERVICE BENCH No. - 301 of 2002
Petitioner :- Nabard Rtd. Officers Welfare Association.
Respondent :- Union Of India Through The Secy. Deptt. Of Finance Ministry Counsel for Petitioner :- Vidhu Bhushan Kalia
Counsel for Respondent :- B.B.Saxena,Anand Dwivedi,Ashok Nigam,Asit Kr Chaturvedi,Deepak Seth,J.P. Mathur,Neerav Chithavanshi,P.K. Tripathi,Rajendra Singh,Rajesh Singh
Honrable Attau Rahman Masoodi,J.
Heard Sri S.K. Kalia, learned senior counsel assisted by Sri Rajat Rajan Singh learned counsel for the petitioner, Sri Asit Kumar Chaturvedi learned senior counsel assisted by Sri Anand Dwivedi learned counsel for Union of India and Dr. Ashok Nigam assisted by Sri Neerav Chitravanshi learned counsel appearing for NABARD
The grievance as regards family pension raised in the present petition stands redressed with the issuance of notification on 18.12.2014 whereby the National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development Pension Regulations,1993 have suitably been amended.
The surviving grievance relating to which the present writ petition is pressed is for updation of pension so as to remove certain anomalies.
Learned counsel for the petitioner for this purpose has drawn attention of this Court to paragraph-5 of the counter affidavit filed by NABARD which reads as under:-
“That the contents of paragraph 3 of the affidavit are not admitted as stated. In this regard, it is submitted that in the counter affidavit filed by the Bank, it was stated that the wage revision in NABARD was made effective from 01.11.1987,01.11.1992 and 01.11.1997 on the lines of RBI. RBI extended the benefit of wage revision made effective from 01.11.1987 in the pension of pensioners also. Similarly, NABARD has also extended the same benefit to its pensioners. However, similar benefit of wage revision made during 01.11.1992 and 01.11.1997 could not be extended to the pensioners by NABARD because RBI did not extend the benefit of said revision to its pensioners.”
On the premise mentioned in paragraph extracted above and in order to substantiate the argument, it is brought to the notice of this Court that the Central Government by notification dated 05.03.2019 has updated the pension with respect to the employees of Reserve Bank of India and the same has been acted upon by the Reserve Bank of India through its circular issued on 07.03.2019. It is thus submitted that once the Reserve Bank of India for its employees has updated the pension scheme of which the similar benefit as per the own stand of the NABARD is extendable to the employees of NABARD, there is no reason as to why the grievance of the petitioner may not be addressed by the Central Government on the same pattern and analogy.
Sri Asit Kumar Chaturvedi, learned counsel for Union of India disputing the position has however submitted that the employees of NABARD are in fact to be treated as per the pattern of pension scheme recommended by the Indian Banks Association and not otherwise.
This submission put-forth by learned counsel for the Union of India has been repelled by learned counsel appearing for the petitioner on the premise that NABARD not being a member of Indian Banks Association is thus liable to be dealt with by the Central Government on the pattern and premise as has been projected in the paragraph extracted above.
In nutshell the issue at hand in view of Section 60(1) and (2) read with Section 50(11)of the NABARD Act, 1981 deserves to be considered by the Central Government with due application of mind. The relevant provisions i.e. Section 60(1) and (2) and Section 50(11) of the Act are reproduced below:-
Section 60. Power of Board to make regulations-(1) The Board may, with the previous approval of the Central Government and in consultation with the Reserve Bank, by notification, make regulations not inconsistent with this Act to provide for all matters for which provision is necessary or expedient for the purpose of giving effect to the provisions of this Act. s Act.
(2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power, such regulations may provide for all or any of the following matters, namely:-
(a) the fees or allowances that may be paid to the directions or members of the Advisory Council;
(b) the times and places of the meetings of the Board or the Executive Committee or the Advisory Council and the procedure to be followed at such meetings including the quorum necessary for the transaction of business;
(c)The number of directors constituting the Executive Committee and the functions that such Committee shall discharge;
(d) the manner and terms of issue and redemption of bonds and debentures by the National Bank:
[(e) the manner of election of directors under clause (f) of sub-section(1) of Section 6;]
(f)[* * *]
(g) the form and manner in which the balance-sheets and the accounts of the National Bank shall be prepared or maintained;
(h)[* * *]
(i) the duties and conduct, salaries, allowances and conditions of service of officers and other employees;
(j)the establishment and maintenance of provident or other benefit funds for employees of the National Bank; and
(k) such other matters for which the Board may consider it expedient or necessary to provide for by way of regulations.
Section 50. Staff of National Bank-(1).......... (2)...................(3)...................(4)................... Upto (10)....,
(11) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Industrial Act,1947(14 of 1947, or any other law for the time being in force, or in any award, judgment, decree, decision or order of any Industrial Tribunal, Court or other authority, or any settlement or agreement, made or entered into before the date of transfer to the National Bank of the services of any person under this section, the National Bank shall be free to alter, amend or repeal in such manner and to such extent it may consider necessary, any of the terms and conditions of service applicable to such persons whose services are so transferred to the National Bank and who are appointed in the National Bank under this section except that the National Bank shall not alter to their prejudice the terms relating to payment of salary and other emoluments, retirement benefits and eligibility for leave.
Since no decision has been taken by the Central Government in the light of relevant provisions as mentioned above by taking into account the proposal or stand of NABARD, thus, it is imperative that a decision relating to the updation of pension of the petitioner may be considered by the Central Government after entering into due consultation with the NABARD particularly when the financial obligation emerging therefrom has been owned by NABARD and expressed its unequivocable consent of bearing the financial burden.
With the consent of parties, the writ petition is finally disposed of with a direction to the Central Government for taking into consideration all the relevant aspects of the matter in relation to updation of pension and pass necessary order expeditiously and preferably within a period of four months from the date a certified copy of this order alongwith relevant material is filed before the Secretary, Department of Finance, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi.
The writ petition stands disposed of in terms of order passed.
Order Date :- 13.11.2019