NEWS FROM CHQ
ANOMALY CASE AND OTHER CASES....
APPEAL FILED
BY THE DEPARTMENT OF TELECOM AGAINST THE JUDGEMENT OF CAT PRINCIPAL BENCH IN
THE CASE OF PENSION ANOMALY, FILED BY OUR ASSOCIATION AND WON BY US, CAME UP
FOR HEARING IN DELHI HIGH COURT TODAY. IT CAME UP AFTER LONG TEN MONTHS. EVEN
THEN, THE DEPARTMENT DID NOT COMPLY WITH THE COURT ORDERS. ADVOCATE FOR
DEPARTMENT SOUGHT FURTHER TIME. A SHORT POSTPONMENT IS ALLOWED. NEXT DATE OF
HEARING IS 8-2-2019.
When justice
is denied by the Government we are compelled to approach the court. It is the
last resort for people like pensioners. Even at that stage the Government
departments can play games and delay the justice further. Latest instance is
the Pension Anomaly Case that came up before Delhi high court. Last time, the
high court gave a long period of ten months to the Department of Telecom to
file their counter. But after ten months, when the case was taken up the
Department lawyer wants more time. Of course, this time it is only 4 months’
time is given. But there is no guarantee that Department will file their
counter before that date.
THE TWO OTHER CASES
Our Association has filed two cases in Ernakulam
CAT.
1. For getting arrears on account of 78.2% IDA
revision from 1-1-2007 instead of 10.6.2013.
2. To get pension re-fixed @ 50% of last pay drawn
to all BSNL retirees who retired before 1-1-2006.
CAT admitted both the cases. But, a date for hearing
is not yet given by the CAT.
Reason?
There is only Judge in CAT Ernakulam bench. Only
when two judges are available the case will be heard.
Government is responsible for this situation. A
judge had retired in December 2017. 10 months have gone. The vacancy is not yet
filled up. This is the case with Chennai bench of CAT also. It is the case with
many other benches of CAT.
CAT was introduced to ensure justice as quickly as
possible to the central government employees and pensioners.The very purpose is
defeated by not posting sufficient number of judges.
The
government, the bureaucracy, the authorities can deny justice,They can delay
the justice. The ordinary people are helpless.
22-10-2018 Meeting with Director (PSU),
DoT:
Today GS along
with Shri S.P. Sharma GS BSNL WRU met Shri Pawan Gupta Director (PSU) DoT and
enquired about the status of cabinet note for relaxation of affordability
clause for implementation of 3rd PRC recommendation in BSNL. Director (PSU) DoT
informed us that DoT Finance had earlier raised some points and DoT had written
to BSNL for clarifying the points raised by DoT Finance. The clarification
submitted by BSNL is being examined by DoT Finance. After clearance by DoT
Finance, the cabinet note will be sent to all the concerned Ministries for
their comments. Director (PSU), DoT assured us that all efforts are being taken
for implementing 3rd pay revision in the coming months, but the main concern is
the 22% fall in revenue in 2017-18 when compared to the revenue of 2016-17. In
the present financial year also BSNL revenue has been coming down and this may
be a stumbling block in getting cabinet approval.
Yesterday I
received many calls about Pay Revision.
It seems there was a wild rumour that Cabinet has approved something..
Hence I
checked various websites.
It is seen
that DoT has not yet finalised any
Cabinet Note till this time.
..PSR..
REDARDING
DIRECT PAYMENT.
There is some confusion in the mind of pensioners
about CPMS as it is being implemented in a hasty manner, without circulating a
Concept Paper. Immediately, from 1-11-2018, it is implemented in the case
of new retirees only. But all BSNL retirees and DoT retirees, numbering
about 3 lakh will be brought under its purview from April 2019.
It is already implemented in MTNL. There seems to be
no problem according to Com. S S Nanda of RTOWA, Delhi. I am told that
from the very beginning MTNL retirees were getting pension directly from CCA.
A similar scheme is already implemented in Defence
Ministry for 24 lakh pensioners. There also, there is no problem.
That might have prompted the PMO and Minister to launch it in DoT.
We, the BSNL retirees, are in different situation.
There are many authorities in our case.
(i) BSNL
is the Pension Sanctioning Authority for us.
(ii) CCA is
the Pension authorizing Authority.
(iii)
Bank or Post office is the PDA – Pension Disbursing Authority.
Under CPMS CCA will become the Pension Sanctioning
Authority also. BSNL SSA has to send the service book before retirement of an
employee to the CCA.
Bank or PO is not totally eliminated from the
arrangement as some people think. A pensioner will continue to get
the pension through the bank or PO he has selected. Only difference is
that the concerned CCA will be crediting the amount online to Pensioner’s
account. In short, CCA office will take over the role of PDAs to some
extent.
When IDA is increased the CCA will credit enhanced
amount.
When the pension revision takes place the changes
matter a lot. Now, BSNL is revising the pension, after verifying the
service book etc. CCA is authorizing the same to PDAs. The Bank or
the Post Office then calculates the arrears and credits the amount in the
account of the concerned pensioner.
Under the new
system, CCA will revise the pension, calculate the arrears and credit the
amount directly in the bank account or PO SB account, as selected by the
pensioners. CPPC of Banks and Director oc Postsl Accounts have no role or
responsibility to calculate the arrears etc.
According to
Kerala CCA, the Asst. Coordination Officer nominated by SSAs shall accept Life
Certificate. But, there is no specific order for that.
Kerala CCA says
that same Asst. Coordination Officers can issue Form 16 for income tax return
purposes. There is no order on
this too.
Given the
track record of BSNL officers and our experience in pension revision with 68.8
and 78.2 and also revision of CDA pension cases we cannot believe that BSNL
officers will do it to the satisfaction of pensioners.
Some of the
CCAs like Maharastra, Gujarat, AP, Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Kerala deal with
large number of pensioners – more than 15000. Number of AOs/AAOs
sanctioned to these circles are same that of smaller circles. This has to
be corrected.
Proper
training has to be imparted to the staff in CCA offices and to the nominated
Asst. Coordination Officers as well. Till that time the pensioners should
not be asked to migrate to the new system.
In any case
this should be optional.
We need
not oppose any change per se. We should not accept anything blindly
too.
It is true
that we got indication about this one year back. In November 2017 we
discussed it in Patna CWC. Nobody objected then. We wrote an
editorial in January 2018 issue of Patrika also. Then also nobody
objected. It is our habit. Our people used to sleep on any issue
till a target date is fixed. Now 1st November 2018 and 1st April
2019 are declared. We have woken up to the dangers.
We can discuss
and review the matter in next CWC. We must have a national view.
All circles are not equally efficient. All banks are not equally
efficient. Condition of post offices is much worse. That is the main
reason why many pensioners welcome the change.
In the
meantime, can our Delhi comrades take help of some BJP MPs there and meet the
minister Shri Manoj Sinha and convey our apprehension? Will it be
possible to get postponed the date of 1-4-2019 for extension of CPMS to the
existing pensioners?
P S
Ramankutty
