NCCPA CIRCULARS! AIPRPA SUGGESTIONS FOR INCLUSION!!
The Circular of NCCPA dated 28th March, 2017 and 20th March 2017 are placed hereunder for information of all our comrades.
The NCCPA Circular also contains various important issues being taken up with the Government. You may witness that these issues do not cover items like Option Number 1 etc as still the Government has not taken any final decision on those issues pending before Government as recommendations of 7th CPC.
However, AIPRPA has requested the NCCPA SG to include two important issues of Postal Pensioners viz., the non-inclusion of Postal Pensioners in CGHS and Merger of Postal Dispensaries with CGHS, as the latter is being used to deny CGHS benefit to Postal Pensioners. The recent orders of the Government though not makes any open discrimination against Postal Pensioners, practially we see that even the sections like the Kerala Postal Pensioners who were getting CGHS benefit by virtue of court decision are now denied the benefit. Therefore we prefer to include these items through NCCPA.
The suggestion of AIPRPA is reproduced below,, before the NCCPA Circular for information:
K.Ragavendran
General Secretary AIPRPA
SUGGESTIONS OF ADDITION BY AIPRPA CHQ
Discrimination
against Postal Pensioners in the matter of allowing entry into CGHS Scheme:
On the basis of the Orders of the
Health Ministry, the Postal Pensioners after retirement are not permitted to
join CGHS except those who were beneficiaries of CGHS while in service. This
condition is non-existent to other CG Employees who are allowed automatically
into CGHS after retirement whether they were beneficiaries of CGHS while in service
or not. This issue was taken up with the 7th CPC and the Pay
Commission report recommended for ending of this discrimination. The 7th
CPC has recommended that all Pensioners of Postal Department should be allowed
to join CGHS after retirement irrespective of the fact that they were
beneficiaries of CGHS while in service or not. In spite of the reply in SCOVA
meetings that this recommendation of the 7th CPC is receiving
attention of the Government, no positive decision is forthcoming. It is urged
that the decision in this regard be expedited and all Postal Pensioners be
permitted to join as beneficiary inn CGHS without any discriminative conditions.
Incidentally it is cited that in
the State of Kerala, the Postal Pensioners by virtue of their winning a court
case, getting admitted in CGHS during the past years. But recently the CGHS has
taken a position to not to allow newly retiring employees of Postal Department
into CGHS. This shows that the attitude of discrimination towards Postal
Pensioners is continuing.
Merger
of Postal Dispensaries with CGHS:
The 7th CPC has recommended
merging all remaining Postal Dispensaries with CGHS. The existence of Postal
Dispensaries is taken as a reason to deny proper medical care to Postal
Pensioners. In the name of Postal Dispensaries, the retired postal employees
are denied entry in CGHS all over India. Even in places and centres where
Postal Dispensaries are situated, the Pensioners are at a loss as they are
denied inpatient treatment and made to pay for outpatient treatment while the
Postal Employees in service are treated free. The successive Pay Commissions
are recommending total merger of Postal
Dispensaries with CGHS but the same is being done in installments by the
Government. It is high time that all the remaining Postal Dispensaries are
merged with CGHS and all Postal Pensioners are provided with amenities for
proper medical care without discrimination.
NATIONAL CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE OF PENSIONERS.
Website: nccpahq.blogspot.in.
13.c Feroze Shah Road,m
New Delhi. 110 001
28th March, 2017
Dear Comrades,
We send herewith a copy of the circular letter dated 20th March, 2017, which could not be placed on the website immediately. The said circular is about the deliberations, the staff side had at the NPS committee meeting. The Committee on allowances had their (last meeting- according to them) today but as per the report, they have not been able to finalise the issue and therefore, the report is likely to be further delayed. In the light of the said development, the Staff side Secretary met the Cabinet secretary and urged upon him to expedite decision on minimum wage, fitment formula, NPS, Pension committee report etc. The 16th March Strike under the auspices of the Confederation of Central Government employees and workers had been a grand success. We thank all comrades who took the initiative to organise solidarity demonstrative actions in support of the striking workers. Com. Tapan Sen, M.P.Rajya Sabha (CPI-M) took up the issue in the Parliament on the day of strike and made a passionate plea to the Government to settle the strike demands.
In the political scenario that emerged after the general elections of five States, it is clear that settlement of demands based upon mere discussions will not fructify. We had been requesting the Bharat Pensioners Samaj to take initiative in organising certain demonstrative programme at Delhi to highlight the Pensioner-specific issues, especially the denial of the Option No.1 recommended by the 7th CPC. They were indicating of a probable date in the month of April, 2017. However, it looks bleak due to the changed weather conditions, whereby even April has become unbearably hot. Even otherwise also, as no decision was taken so far, the possibility of some programme being undertaken in April is ruled out.
The NCCPA has been publishing its bulletin every month. It was decided earlier that to make it financially viable, the subscription to the magazine must be widened. Except, no affiliate has taken any initiative in the matter. This apart, we have been informed by our Treasurer that the remittance in the form of annual subscription from the affiliates has not been received for the last two financial years.
The Confederation along with the All India State Government employees Federation has mooted the idea of holding another convention on the need to exclude the Government employees from the purview of the NPS. Their plan is to have a convention at Delhi in the month of June. This has become necessary due to the anxiety exhibited by the employees, especially those recruited after 1.1.2004 and the official statements at the NPS Committee meetings.
To discuss these developments and the organisational issue, we have decided to convene the National executive Committee meeting of NCCPA in the month of August, 2017. We are awaiting the confirmation of the date from the President and others. The venue of the meeting will be at Nagpur as the COC of Pensioners organisations there have indicated that it would be possible for them to get the MLA hostel for the purpose in the month of August, 2017.
We are giving a list of items the Staff Side JCM National Council has proposed for discussion at the Standing committee meeting pertaining to health and pension problems of retired personnel. Kindly go through the same. If any more issues are to be included, please prepare a note with requisite documents and send the same to the CHQ to pursue the same through correspondence and later with the JCM, Staff Side.
With greetings,
Yours fraternally,
K.K.N. Kutty
Secretary General.
NATIONAL CO-ORDINATION COMMITTEE OF PENSIONERS.
Website: nccpahq.blogspot.in.
13.c Feroze Shah Road,m
New Delhi. 110 001
20th March. 2017
Dear Comrades,
As you are aware, the Govt. had set up a committee as per recommendations of the 7th CPC to streamline the procedure and functioning of the NPS. The Staff Side of NC JCM was asked to present their views in the matter. The meeting was on 20th January, 2017,. The Staff side made a written presentation to the committee on the subject. (The note was placed on the website).However, it also took the stand that the consultation with staff side could not be held in the manner of a Raj durbar as quite a number of Associations especially representing the organised Group A services and the all India Service officers were also invited to the said meeting. The staff side was assured of an independent hearing. Subsequently the sub-committee III ( The Pension Committee had set up three sub committees to interact with various stake holders on different subjects) under the Chairmanship of Ms. Vandana Sharma, Addl. Secretary of the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare convened a meeting on 10th February, 2017. The Sub- Committee was more concerned about the applicability of various provisions of the present rules to the NPS subscribers especially those which are punitive in character. In the event of a Government servant being found guilty under the CCS(CCA) Rules, the Government is empowered to restrict, reduce or reject the Pension and other retirement benefits. Prior to the meeting, the sub Committee had asked for views on various issues to be discussed at the meeting. The official Side wanted similar rules in the case of NPS subscribers. The Staff Side had submitted a written Note in this regard. The said Note has also been placed on the website. In the meeting, the Staff Side had made it categorically clear that no such rules could be imposed on the NPS subscriber as the annuity which he purchases on the basis of the contribution made at the end of his service is the product of a financial transaction and cannot be unilaterally altered at the whims of the employer. Once the contributions of the employee and the employer is remitted to the investing agency, the employer ceases to be a stake holder any more in the scheme.
The third meeting was held on 17th March, 2017. The meeting was chaired by the Secretary Pension. The said meeting was to specifically interact with the members of the Staff Side. On behalf of the Staff side, the following comrades took part in the meeting.
1. Com. M.Raghavaiah (Leader, Staff Side)
2. Com. Sivgopal Misra(Secretary Staff Side)
3. Com. KKN.Kutty(Confederation)
4. Com. C. Sreekumar(AIDEF)
5. Com. Guman Singh and (NFIR)
6. Com. Sreenivasan (INDWF)
As indicated earlier, several Associations of Group A Officers had made their presentations. Some of the important points mentioned by them during the discussions were:
1) Discrimination between pre and post 2004 officials-
2) While Govt. determines the quantum of pension subscription and makes it mandatory it refuses to guarantee a minimum return.
3) Atal Pension Yojana offers better and guaranteed benefit to the Subscribers.
4) The Government's assurance that the employees under NPS will get annuity not less than the minimum pension under the defined benefit scheme and might even be more was made on wrong assumption in as much as
a) 100% of the corpus was taken for computation of annuity whereas as per the scheme only 40% of the pension wealth alone would be available. .
b) Fund expenses are exorbitantly under- valued.
c) No benefit for the family the case of a Pensioner, who dies at an early age under NPS.
d) Annuity is not cost-indexed.
5) Two officers at the level of the Secretary to GOI retiring on the same day in 2037( former recruited in 2003 and latter in 2004 )will have a huge differential in pension. The 2003 recruitee will have pension 3.25 times of the annuity of the 2004 recruitee. Over a period of next 10 years i.e in 2047,(due to cost indexation) the 2003 recruitee will have pension 7.4 times of what the 2004 NPS official receives as annuity.
6) In most of the countries where contributory pension scheme is in vogue, the Govt's (employer) contribution is 25% of the salary while that of the employee is 10%
7) The NPS Contribution do not enjoy the Tax benefits like PPF, EPF, GPF etc.
The Secretary Pension informed the members that the Committee's mandate is only to make suggestions to streamline the NPS procedures and make the rules simple and transparent. The basic features will not therefore undergo any change. He concluded that neither the scheme would be replaced or discarded , nor any guaranteed minimum pension would be offered. as in both cases Govt. will have to undertake financial obligations. He clarified that the Sub Committees have been set up to expedite the work.
The staff Side in their presentation made out inter alia the following points:
a) The number of employees covered under NPS in increasing day by day and in a decade's time, they might become significant segment of the Government personnel.
b) All those who are covered by the scheme are extremely critical and resent that their savings are channelled into private hands to help the corporate bodies to make enormous profits.
c) There is no likelihood either now or in any time in future that NPS subscribers will be able to purchase an annuity equivalent to what the pensioners under the Defined Benefit Scheme is entitled. The Government must honour its commitment made to this effect to the staff side in the National Council, when the NPS was introduced.
d) The Committee in its report must at least bring it to the notice of Government that the Staff Side of the JCM is of the firm view that the cosmetic changes in the scheme will not bring about any tangible benefit to the subscribers and the Government must as an interim measure guarantee the pension to NPS subscribers equivalent to what is provided for the personnel covered under the defined benefit scheme.
e) The Staff Side opined that the committee will be well within its term of reference to suggest.
(i) Cost-indexation of annuity as the Contribution made by the subscribers and the Government as employer is 10% of the salary-salary for this purpose being Basic Pay and Dearness allowance. In other words, in every six months contribution increases and therefore it is logical that the annuity is also raised every six months to keep pace with the rate of inflation.
(ii) Minimum guarantee is assured by many countries even under the contributory system of pension and the provision to the contrary in the PFRDA Act must be recommended to be removed.
(iii) It is a welcome step that the Govt. has now decided to extend the benefit of family pension in the case of all NPS subscribers who die in harness. The family pension can therefore be assured at the prevailing rate for all NPS subscribers, if necessary by appropriating a one-time deduction from their pension wealth, at their option, at the time of retirement.
(iv) To introduce the GPF again as a voluntary option.
(v) All NPS subscribers must be provided with a payment slip by the heads of offices indicating the amount deducted, the amount contributed by the Govt. and the date on which the sum has been made over the to the fund managers, irrespective of the communication the subscriber is entitled to get from the PFRDA registry.
(vi) No rules to be framed to link the pension benefit with disciplinary proceedings.
(vii) The present investment pattern prescribed must be reviewed for its viability periodically.
(viii) The Sub Committee which goes into the issue concerning framing rules may be asked to interact with the Staff Side once the draft rules are ready.
(ix) In so far as customer friendly procedures are concerned, the committee may look at the best international practices with a view to adopt and incorporate them.
It could be seen from the deliberations in the committee that nothing short of replacing NPS with Statutory defined Benefit Pension Scheme will bring about anything good for new recruitees.Our endeavour must be in that direction whereby sanctions are generated and compulsions are felt by the Govt as early as possible.
K.K.N. Kutty
Member, Standing Committee
National Council, JCM.
.
Item No.1
Central Government health Scheme. Empanelling of hospitals – streamlining the procedure to provide in-patient treatment to the beneficiaries.
The demand placed by the Staff Side earlier to set up CGHS hospitals at all CGHS centres could not be acceded to by the Government due to the prohibitive cost involved. The alternate method of empanelling and recognizing private hospitals for the benefit of CGHS subscribers, who require in-patient treatment, received the appreciation from all concerned. However, the tendering procedure evolved and due to many other reasons, the number of such hospitals in almost all centers except Delhi came down very heavily and in certain places it was reduced to one or two at the maximum. This apart, some of the recognized and empanelled hospitals do not have even basic facilities to treat the patients. In certain other cases, the hospitals which were recognized and were functioning well and catering to the requirement of the CGHS beneficiaries refused to entertain the patients as there had been huge pending bills, the payment of which had not been received by them. To illustrate the point further, we send along with this a Note we have received from the Central Government Pensioners Association , Kerala. We, therefore, request you to
(a) Ensure that each CGHS Centre five private reputed hospitals are recognized for the purpose of general treatment; The Government may hold bilateral negotiations on the basis of a pre-determined norms.
(b) Recognize at least three super specialty hospitals in each centre so that the patients who suffer from chronic diseases, Cardiac problems and cancer related illness could get immediate treatment without hassles.
(c) Some mechanism is evolved that the bills are not allowed to pile up and the recognized hospitals are made the payment within a fixed time frame.
Item No.2
Include unmarried/widow /divorcee sister in the definition of family for family pension.
The scope of Family pension under Rule 52 of the CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972 was extended to the dependent disabled siblings (brother and sister) of Central Government servants/pensioners vide DOP & PW O.M. No. 1/15/2008-P&PW (E) dated 17th August, 2009. There are cases wherein an employee/pensioner remains unmarried and leaves behind dependent unmarried/widow /divorcee sister/sisters. Though cases of such types may be few and far between, nonetheless, such hapless ladies need to be taken care by the Government lest they should be left to fend for themselves, after the death of Government Servant/pensioner on whom they were fully dependent before his/her death. We request to include dependent unmarried /widow /divorcee sister/sisters in the definition of family for the purpose of family pension .
Item No.3
Counting full service of Temporary causal labourers for pensionery and retirement
benefits in Railways-reg.
The Staff Side had discussed its demand for counting full service of temporary status of casual
labourers for pensionary and retirement benefits at the level of Railway Ministry. Consequently, the Railway Ministry had agreed and accordingly proposal was sent to the Ministry of Finance and DoP&T Seeking clearance. Unfortunately, the MoF/DoP&T have not accorded approval:-
In this connection, the Staff Side brings following key points for consideration.
(a) The Casual Labourers in Railways had attained temporary status on completion of prescribed days of continuous working and got the benefits admissible to temporary Railway/Government employees such as regular Pay Scale, Medical facility etc.,
(b) The Railway Administrations have however taken abnormally long periods to absorb them as regular staff although regular posts were vacant.
(c) The status of casual labourers in railways after acquiring temporary status (termed as Temporary employee) is exactly similar to the substitutes in whose case, the total service from the date of attainment of temporary status is counted for reckoning qualifying service for pensionery benefits.
(d) Various CATs, High Courts and even the Apex Court have given decisions against the
differential treatment between the casual labour and substitutes particularly when both attained temporary status and directed to treat them at par so far as reckoning the service from the date of temporary status till the date of regularization for pensionary benefits etc.,
(e) The SLPs filed by the Union of India before the Apex Court in a few cases of casual labourers were dismissed and the Hon'ble Supreme Court had directed the Union of India to calculate Pension and other retiral benefits payable to the retiring/retired employees, taking into account the 100% temporary status service.
The Staff Side, therefore, requests to consider the above valid points and accord approval for
counting total temporary status service of Casual Labourers for pensionary benefits in Railways.
Item No.4.
Direct consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central Government/State Government
Hospitals /Polyclinics. Continuation of the facility to those CGHS beneficiaries who were
eligible for direct consultation before revision of the Monetary Ceiling
i) The monetary Ceiling for direct consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central/State Government Hospitals/ Polyclinics was revised to Pay/Pension/Family Pension of Rs.33, 480/- per month and above with effect from 1-6-2009 vide MoH &FW O.M. No.S.11011/2/2008-cghs (P) dated 20-5-2009 on account of implementation of recommendations of 6th Central Pay Commission. However, para 5 (iii) of the OM states that "entitlement of Pensioners/Family Pensioners who have already deposited their contribution for life time CGHS facility, will not be changed"
ii) Pre-2006 Pensioners who were eligible for direct consultation on the basis of the then existing/pre-revised monetary ceiling of Pay/Pension/Family Pension, but whose Pay/Pension/Family Pension is below the revised monetary ceiling of Rs.33, 480, are not being allowed direct consultation facility on the plea that they do not satisfy the requirement of minimum Pay/Pension/Family pension for eligibility for direct consultation.
iii) Absence of the entry regarding entitlement of the beneficiary for direct consultation in the Plastic Card is adding to the woes of the Beneficiaries since they will have to establish their claim for the facility on each and every occasion of direct consultation with Specialist. It is to be noted that the paper cards issued earlier did carry an entry on the eligibility of the Beneficiary for direct consultation.
iii) Hence it is requested that:
§ Instructions may please be caused to be issued to all Directors/Additional Directors; CGHS to continue to provide the facility of direct consultation to such of those Beneficiaries who were eligible for the same prior to revision of the monitory ceiling vide O.M. dated 20-5-2009, in as much as para (5) (iii) of the said O. M. states that entitlement of a Beneficiary who holds a life time card will not change with the changes brought about w.e.f 1-6-2009.
§ Entry regarding the eligibility for direct consultation with the Specialist must be made in the plastic cards issued to such Beneficiaries who were eligible for it before 1-6-2009
· Entry regarding the eligibility for direct consultation with the Specialist must be made in the plastic cards issued to Beneficiaries who are eligible for it as per the revised monetary ceiling.
· On-line appointment with the Specialist
For taking on-line appointment with the Specialist, there are two fields to be filled up in the prescribed format.
(1) Date of reference from the Wellness centre
(2) Basic Pay/Pension/Family Pension.
In the case of (2) above, If the amount of Pay/Pension/FP, entered is less than the revised monetary Ceiling of Rs.33, 480, the request gets rejected and a message stating that"you are not eligible to take an on-line appointment" appears on the screen, thereby preventing the Beneficiary who was eligible for direct consultation before 1-6-2009 from availing the facility of on-line direct consultation. Hence, the format prescribed for taking direct on-line consultation needs to be suitably modified to include such of those beneficiaries who were eligible for the same as per pre-1-6-2009 monetary Ceiling of Rs.18,000/- & pre- 31-3-2004 monetary Ceiling of Rs. 12,000/-.
Item No.5
Revision of monetary Ceiling for direct consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central
Government/State Government Hospitals /Polyclinics in respect of Pensioners and Family
Pensioners.
Vide Para (F) of MoH &FW O.M. No.S.11011/2/2008-CGHS (P) dated 20-5-2009, the Monitory Ceiling for direct consultation with Specialists in CGHS/Central Government/State Government Hospitals /Polyclinics in respect all CGHS Beneficiaries has been fixed as Pay/Pension/Family pension of Rs. 33,480/- per month and above. Equating Pension and Family pension with Pay for the purpose of direct consultation with Specialists, has not only created a wide disparity in facilities admissible under CGHS between serving and retired employees, but also has resulted in restriction of the facility of direct consultation with Specialists only to the officers retiring from Grade S-30 & above who only are entitled for a pension of 33,500/- and above and in absolute denial of the facility to all Family pensioners since the maximum amount of Family Pension admissible under CCS(Pension)Rules is Rs. 27,000/- only.
Hence, the monetary ceiling for direct consultation with Specialists in respect of Pensioners must be revised to 50% of Rs.33, 480 ie. Rs.16,740 and to 30% in respect of Family Pensioners ie., Rs.10.044, on the analogy of grant of Pension and Family pension under CCS(Pension) Rules.,1972.
Item No.6
Plastic Cards
The process of issue of plastic cards is still not complete, though it started about 2 years ago. In Bangalore, only about 40% of the Beneficiaries have got the plastic card so far. Hence, an Agency in Bangalore City may be identified for the purpose, which would quicken the process.
Item No.7
Indication of Ward entitlement in plastic cards of pre-1-6-2009 Beneficiaries
O .M No.S-11011-6/98-CGHS (P) dated 26-10-2005 issued in connection with revision of ward entitlement consequent upon merger of DA/DR with Pay/Pension w.e.f 1-4-2004 states that
"For the existing CGHS card holders both serving and pensioners, there will be no change in their ward entitlements consequent upon the grant of D P /D R w.e.f. 1-4-2004"
&
O .M. No. S 1011/2/2008-CGHS (P), dated 20-5-2009 issued in connection with revision of ward entitlement consequent upon implementation of 6th CPC recommendations states that Entitlement of pensioners /family pensioners who have already deposited their contribution for life time CGHS facility, will not be changed
But in some cases, the Ward entitlement is indicated as per the revised rates in the plastic cards issued to pre-1-6-2009 Beneficiaries, which has resulted in indication of a ward which is below their actual ward entitlement determined with reference to the pay drawn at the time of retirement. This anomaly needs to be set right by making necessary correction in the plastic cards, if a Beneficiary submits representation requesting corrections in the plastic card issued to him/her. Necessary instructions must be issued to all concerned.
Item No.8
Grant of one time option to CGHS Beneficiaries to opt for ward entitlement as per their
revised Pay in Pay Band.
Some CGHS Beneficiaries who had opted for payment of CGHS contribution on the basis of their pension at the time of their retirement and whose ward entitlement was determined on their pension, got ward entitlement which was below their entitlement determined as per the pay last drawn. Since they are eligible for higher ward entitlement facility determined on their pay, say from general ward to semi-private ward/ semi-private ward to private ward, they may be given a onetime option to opt for determination of their ward entitlement on the basis of their notional "Pat in Pay Band" in terms of MoH &FW O.M. No.S.11011/2/2008-cghs (P) dated 20-5-2009.It has been clarified in the O.M. ibid that Pay in Pay Band means the corresponding Pay in Pay Band that the Pensioner would have drawn had he/she continued in service.
Item No. 9
Provision of CGHS facility for life time to dependent disabled/mentally retarded children of Central Government Employees/Pensioners
i) In the "Definition of Family" under CGHS, furnished in Ministry of Health & FW O.M. No. 3T-1/2009-C&P/CGHS (P) dated 23-2-2011, daughter as indicated at Sl No.( 5) (ii) can avail the benefits till she starts earning or gets married irrespective of the age-limit, where as son indicated at Sl. No. 5(iii) of the list, suffering from any permanent Physical/Mental disability is entitled to avail the facility "irrespective of age- limit", and son's marital status may not result in denial of CGHS facility to him ,in as much as there is no mention of marital status in the definition, unlike the definition at Sl.5 (i) On the other hand, daughter suffering from any permanent disability (physical disability or mental retardation) loses the facility if she gets married as per the definition at Sl. (5)(ii).
Hence, the case of a physically disabled/mentally retarded daughter needs to be considered for extension of CGHS facility "irrespective of age-limit, even after her marriage".
ii) It is to be noted that under CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, by an amendment to explanations 1 and 3 after Sub-rule 6 of Rule 54, as communicated vide Department of Pension & PW O .M. No. 1/33/2012-P&PW (E) dated 16-1-2013, mentally /physically disabled children have been allowed to continue to draw family pension even after their marriage thereby removing the condition of marital status for continued drawal of family pension.
iii) It is requested that on the analogy of pension rules, mentally/physically disabled children (both son and daughter) of Central Government Employees/Pensioners may be allowed to continue to avail CGHS facilities even after their marriage by removing the condition of marital status now existing in respect of daughters only. The "definition of family" under CGHS may please be modified suitably.
Item No.10
Extension of CGHS facilities to retired BSNL employees - follow up action by the Ministry of Health and family Welfare & fixation of rates of contribution & ward entitlement.
Department of Telecommunications vide their OM No 4-12(11)2012-PAT dated 20/2/2014 have extended CGHS facilities to retired BSNL employees who are in receipt of Central Civil pension/Pro-rata pension from Central Civil Estimates in consultation with the Ministry of Health& Family Welfare. BSNL retirees have been given an option to choose either CGHS or BSNL–MRS as per their convenience.
BSNL also vide its letter no. BSN/Admn/ 14-15/09 (pt) dated 2nd April, 2014 addressed to all the Chief General Managers, has asked them to give wide publicity and to assist the willing retired employees by forwarding their applications to the respective CGHS units for admission to CGHS.
But, the letter No. Z-5025/36/2006-CGHS-III Pt. Dated 9-1-2014 stated to have been issued by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare extending CGHS facilities to retired BSNL employees, does not seem to have been uploaded to its website or to the website of CGHS which has resulted in a large number of BSNL pensioners remaining unaware of the CGHS facility extended to them even after a lapse of 14 months .Hence, immediate action for wide circulation of the said O.M. needs to be taken.
Further, since the DoT O.M. dated 20/2/2014 stipulates that the retired BSNL employees who opt for CGHS "would have to pay the requisite fee to CGHS as applicable to Government retirees", the rate of monthly contribution payable by BSNL pensioner has to be fixed. It is to be noted that the contribution payable by the Government retirees is fixed on the basis of the Grade Pay that they would have drawn had they been in service whereas in BSNL there is no element of Grade Pay to fix the rate of contribution on par with Government retirees. The ward entitlement of Government retirees is also determined on the 'notional Pay in Pay Band'. Hence, a new criterion on contribution and ward entitlement in respect of BSNL retirees must now be evolved, which must be in conformity with the rates applicable to CGHS Beneficiaries.
Item No.11
Extending the benefit of pension revision to the employees and officials who are absorbed in the Central Public Sector undertakings.
In the case of Civil Servants who are initially on deputation to Central Public sector undertaking but later absorbed in those organsiations and who had drawn lump sum payment by commutation of their central pension, orders are yet to be issued by the Government extending the benefit of pension revision of 7th CPC recommendation to them. We request that the requisite orders may please be issued without further loss of time.
Revision of Ex-gratia to CPF/SRPF (C)retirees.
In acceptance of the demand of the Staff side at the National Council, JCM, ex-gratia payments were made to the CPF/SRPF© retirees. These rates fixed in 1988 was revised on 1.11. 1997 and again from 2006. Presently the rates are as under:
Group A. Rs. 3000
Group B. Rs. 1000
Group C. Rs. 750
Group D. Rs. 650.
Taking into account the fact that pay and pension were revised on the basis of the 7th Central Pay Commission's recommendation a revision of rates of the ex gratia to the CPF/SRPF© retirees whose number is dwindling every day is warranted. We, therefore, request that the rates may be appropriately revised applying the very same rationale adopted in the case of civil pensioners.
Dispense with the practice of ignoring the fraction while computing the Dearness allowance.
For the sake of easy computation of DA the practice of ignoring the fraction was initiated. The quantum loss to the beneficiaries in the beginning was meager. Now that the administrative difficulties which promoted for ignoring the fraction has been greatly eased due to computerization and taking into account the loss for six months is no more meagre, it is necessary that the practice is dispensed with. For example, the next installment of DA is likely to be 2.95%whereas the orders would be issued for grant of only 2%. In the case of an employee, whose basic pay is Rs. 50,000, the loss per month in that case would be Rs. 475/-. It is pertinent to mention in this connection that in the case of Bank employees, the practice of ignoring the fraction is not followed. We, therefore, request that the DA hereafter be computed without ignoring the fraction.
Item No.12
Opening of CGHS Dispensaries in AGRA, Barrackpore (Kolkata) and Kochi
A large number of Central Government employees and pensioners are concentrated in and around Agra, Barrackpore and Kochi. The employees and pensioners of these cities are to travel a long distance for taking treatment since CGHS dispensaries are not available in these cities. It is, therefore requested that CGHS dispensaries may be established in these cities
Item No.13
Revision of the benefit of Deposit Linked Insurance Coverage from GPF.
As per Rule 33-B of GPF Rules on the death of a Subscriber an additional amount not exceeding Rs. 60,000/- payable under Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme of GPF to the dependents of a deceased employee. This rate has not been enhanced for so many years. Similar benefit for a depositor in EPF covered under the Employees Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme 1976 is enhanced to Rs. 6,00,000/-. It is therefore requested that Government may consider to enhance the limit of Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme from GPF.
Item No.14.
MACP to the employees who have completed 10 years or 20/30 years on the date of their retirement
Employees who have completed 10 years in the same grade / pay level or those who have completed 20/30 years on the last working day of the month which happens to be the superannuation/ retirement day of the concerned employee is denied MACP benefits on the plea that they are eligible for MACP only on the next working day. Since the concerned employee retired one day before he is denied the benefit. Due to this the employee is subjected to huge loss in pension and other terminal benefits. Therefore it is requested that employees who are completing ten years in the same grade / same pay level and 20/30 years on the date of their retirement i. e. last working day of the month may be granted MACP benefits by relaxing the relevant provisions in the MACP scheme
K.Ragavendran
General Secretary AIPRPA
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