PENSION ANOMALY CASE AND FURTHER ACTION
4-1-17: Com. R L Kapoor has obtained a certified copy of the judgement today on Pension Anomaly case. CHQ has prepared a letter to Secretary, Telecom requesting him to implement the judgement in the case and extend the benefit to all the 4230 affected pensioners immediately.
To avoid any delay, Com. Kapoor is authorised to sign the letter on behalf of our Association and hand over to the office of Secretary, Telecom along with a copy of Judgement.
All India BSNL Pensioners’ Welfare
Association (Regd.T.1833/09)
Central Headquarters
AH 189/61, 3rd Street, Aurovile Flats, Anna
Nagar, Chennai-600040
President: P.S.Ramankutty General
Secretary: G.Natarajan
Mobile – 09447551555 Mobile
– 09444929799
Date: 5/1/2017
To
Shri J.S.Deepak,
Secretary, Telecom,
Sanchar Bhawan, Ashoka Road,
New Delhi-110001
Respected Sir,
Sub: Request for implementation of Order dated 16.12.2016
passed by Principal Bench, CAT, New
Delhi in O.A. No. 2173/2014 & MA No. 1824/2014, in the matter of All India
BSNL Pensioners Welfare Association & others (Applicants) Vs. M/o
Communications & others – Respondents.
On behalf of our Association
& 11 other affected pensioners who retired between October 2000 & June
2001, we filed OA No. 2173/2014 in the Honourable Principal Bench, CAT, New
Delhi. The first respondent is
Secretary, DoT, New Delhi. We pleaded to
quash the impugned DoT order dated 15/1/2003 which allowed combination of CDA
& IDA pay for arriving at last 10 months average pay. We also prayed to direct the respondents to
re-fix pension from the date of retirement by calculating the pension in the
same manner as is calculated for Central Government Employees/Public Sector
Undertaking like Food Corporation of India by adopting the formula as contained
in OM dated 18.10.1999 and give notional benefit of the IDA pay scales and
thereafter grant all consequential benefits from the date of retirement in
accordance with law. We pleaded for
fixing the IDA pay notionally for the period of CDA pay in the last 10 months
and then arrive at average pay and fix the pension accordingly.
The Hon. Principal Bench of
CAT, New Delhi delivered the judgement on 16/12/2016 and our Counsel has received a certified copy
of the said order dated 16.12.2016 from the Principal Registrar, CAT Principal
Bench on 04.01.2017. Our plea has been
completely accepted by the Hon. Court and the impugned order dated 15/1/2003
order of DoT is quashed. In the
operative portion, the Hon. Court directed
the respondents to refix pension of the applicants from the date of their
retirement in the same manner as calculated for Central Government
employees/Public Sector Undertaking like FCI by adopting the formula as
contained in OM dated 18.10.1999 and give notional benefit of the IDA pay
scales and, thereafter, grant all consequential benefits from the date of
retirement in accordance with law. The
Hon. Court has given a time frame of 90 days from the receipt of a certified
copy of this order for implementation of the directions.
The certified copy of the
judgement is herewith attached. Our
Association is the first Applicant and we have filed the said OA in
representative capacity on behalf of 4230 affected pensioners and the same has
been mentioned in the first para of the judgement. Hence we request you to
implement the order and extend the benefits to all the affected pensioners
within the time-frame.
Yours faithfully,
(Roshan
Lal Kapoor)
Authorised Signatory for and on
behalf of Applicant No.1
Encl: Certified copy of the
Order dated 16/12/2016
Copy to: The CMD, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, M.S.
Mathur Lane, Janpath, New Delhi-110001
5-1-17:
CHQ has sent the following letter to the following three officers asking them not to appeal the case and implement the court orders to all the affected pensioners immediately:
1.Shri J.S.Deepak, Secretary, Telecom, 2. Shri Ashok Lavasa, Secretary, Expenditure,
3.Shri C. Viswanath, Secretary, Pension,
To
Shri C. Viswanath,
Secretary, Pension,
Lok Nayak Bhawan, Khan
Market,
New Delhi-110003
Respected Sir,
Sub: Request
implementation of Principal Bench, CAT, New Delhi judgement
We filed a case in the Hon.
Principal Bench, CAT, New Delhi for settling the issue of ‘Pension Anomaly’ for
those who retired from BSNL between October 2000 & June 2001 under OA
2173/2014. Our Association was the 1st
applicant and Secretary, Pension, Ministry of Ministry of Personnel, Public
Grievances & Pensions was 3rd respondent.
The judgement was delivered on 16/12/2016. The principal Registrar issued a certified
copy to the Govt. pleader on 4/1/2017.
We herewith attach a copy of the same for your perusal. The operative portion of the judgement is
given in para 25 which is reproduced below:
25. There is, therefore, no ground whatsoever for the
respondents to deny the benefit of formula adopted in OM dated18.10.1999. The
impugned order dated 15.01.2003 is thus quashed with direction to the
respondents to refix pension of the applicants from the date of their
retirement in the same manner as calculated for Central Government employees/
Public Sector Undertaking like FCI by adopting the formula as contained in OM
dated 18.10.1999 and give notional benefit of the IDA pay scales and,
thereafter, grant all consequential benefits from the date of retirement in
accordance with law. We fix a time frame of 90days from the receipt of a
certified copy of this order for implementation of our directions. No costs.
We would request you, sir, to
implement the judgement to all the affected pensioners numbering approximately
4230 who retired between October 2000 & June 2001. Nearly 20% of the affected pensioners are not
alive and the issue remained unsettled for more than a decade. We request you, sir, to refrain from filing
an appeal in the light of National Litigation Policy 2010 and the initiative
taken by the Ministry of Law & Justice during the two years of the present
Government.
National Litigation Policy
2010 part V states “Proceedings will be filed challenging orders of
Administrative Tribunals only if” :
a)
There
is a clear error of record and the finding has been entered against the Govt.
b)
The
judgement of the Tribunal is contrary to a service rule or its interpretation
by a High Court or the Supreme Court.
c)
The
judgement would impact the working of the administration in terms of morale of
the service, the Government is compelled to file a petition; or
d)
If
the judgement will have recurring implications upon other cadres or if the
judgement involves huge financial claims being made.
On the occasion of the Delhi
High Court golden jubilee celebration in October 2016, the present Hon. Prime
Minister of India expressed his anguish about the problem of excessive
Government litigation.
Ministry of Law & Justice
has published in their website about the initiatives taken during the two years
of the present Government. According to
that, Draft National Litigation Policy under formulation to make Government a
responsible and efficient litigant. The
salient features of draft policy are:-
1)
To
take preventive measures for reducing the new filing of cases by prescribing a
procedure for proper dealing of the cases, extending benefit to similarly
placed
persons and avoiding litigation between Government departments and PSUs
through intervention of empowered agencies
2) Restricting appeals to minimum by
careful scrutiny of the implications of the judgement; making appeal an
exception unless it affects policy of the Government; minimal recourse to
Supreme Court under Article 136
In view of the above facts,
we request you, sir, to settle the case of pension anomaly as per the direction
of Hon. Principal Bench, CAT Newdelhi within that time-frame.
Yours
faithfully,
(G.Natarajan)
General Secretary.
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