Cabinet secretary TV Somanathan assured the NC-JCM during the annual meeting last week that the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s recommendations on pension enhancement every five years will be referred to the 8 th Pay Commission. This information comes from a letter issued by the National Council of the Joint Consultative Machinery (staff side) to its members and constituent organisations.
This was just one of the many pension-related demands made by the staff side to the central government during the NC-JCM’s 49 th annual meeting. ET Wealth Online takes you through 5 of the key pension-related demands discussed in the meeting.
1. Pension increment every 5 years
The staff side has been pushing for pension revision every five years because the current method of revising pensions during a Pay Commission doesn’t really help pensioners’ keep up with inflation.
Last week, they raised this issue in a meeting in the Capital with the cabinet secretary and other high-ranking government officials. The cabinet secretary has assured the staff side that he would refer this issue to the 8 th Pay Commission.
2. Full pension should not be reduced to 30% for dependents of a deceased employee/pensioner
The staff side has demanded that family pension should not be reduced to 30% of the notional pay of a deceased government employee or a pensioner.
The cabinet secretary said this demand also would be referred to the 8 th Pay Commission.
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Family pension is given to the widow/widower, and if there is no widow/widower, to the children of a government servant.
While the full pension is 50% plus dearness allowance of the employee’s last-drawn 12-month average pay, family pension is just 30% of that pay.
3. Remove eligibility of income certificate for family pension from physically disabled dependent children
The staff side of NC-JCM also argues that No Income Certificate from a medical board or civil authorities should not be demanded from physically disabled/crippled children eligible for family pension since such certificates are not issued by the concerned authorities.
They said that family pension should be given to them without seeking a certificate.
The letter claims the cabinet secretary has directed the Department of Pension to examine the matter and to take a logical and practical decision.
4. Old Pension Scheme for certain employees recruited on or after December 22, 2003
Central government employees who joined service from the National Pension System (NPS) notification date of December 22, 2003, or after, have NPS as their pension scheme barring a few exceptions.
However, the staff side of NC JCM has demanded that the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) should apply for certain employees whose recruitment was done on or before December 22, 2003. The staff side categorised them as follows:
(i) Vacancy sanction/release letter by the concerned ministry or department may be treated as a notification if it is issued prior to December 22, 2003.
The staff side has advocated extending OPS to a certain percentage of central government employees employed against vacancies that were notified before the NPS notification date of December 22, 2003.
The staff side argued that such anomalies should be rectified and employees recruited against vacancies released before December 22, 2003, should be brought under the Old Pension Scheme.
(ii) Employees recruited on compassionate ground, if their date of application for such an appointment was prior to December 22, 2003, should also be brought under OPS.
The Cabinet Secretary agreed that in case of compassionate ground appointments, if a candidate fulfils eligibility criteria like qualification, had applied before December 22, 2003, and had been appointed even after January 1, 2004, should be eligible for OPS.
However, vis-a-vis Condition (i), the cabinet secretary directed the staff side to give a detailed note.
Secretary, Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare (DOP&PW) agreed to the cabinet secretary to get Demand (ii) implemented in a week’s time.
5. Family pension for widowed dependant daughter-in-law
The staff side demanded a revision of the definition of ‘family’ to include widowed dependant daughter-in-law for claiming family pension.
The cabinet secretary has asked the Department of Personnel and Training (DOP&T) to examine the matter in consultation with the Ministry of Law.
