As all of you know, we had filed a case in Principal Bench of CAT,New Delhi to get removed the anomaly in pension of those who retired during the period from October 2000 to July 2001. On 16-12-2016 CAT pronounced its judgement in our favour. 90 days’ time was given to the Respondents (Dept of Telecom, Dept of Pension, Dept of Expenditure etc.) to implement the court order. 180 days have passed since. The Court order is not honoured.

DOT officers say that they have asked the Government advocate to file Appeal in High Court against the CAT decision. We immediately filed a Caveat Petition in Delhi High Court to ensure that we are heard before the High Court gives any decision in the Appeal. Another 90 days have passed since then. Still no Appeal is filed in High Court.

CONTEMPT

Therefore, finding no other way, we have filed a Contempt of Court Petition on 13-7-2017 in Principal Bench of CAT.

IMMEDIATE EFFECT

I anticipate that the Government Advocate will file the appeal petition immediately in High Court. Administrative reasons will be shown for the delay. In most of the cases the Court condones such delay on the part of Government Departments. Then we have to fight the case in High Court.We are prepared for it. We are prepared to fight in the Supreme Court even...... P S RAMANKUTTY

We have already published 23101 names of Life Members of AIBSNLPWA in our magazine, PENSIONERS PATRIKA till its July 2017 Issue.

As on today, 13-7-2017, we have a waiting list of 1964 names to be published. We devote 4 or 5 pages in every Issue for publishing the LM lists. Maximum of 800-900 can be given in one Issue. So, pages of September-October and November-December Issues are full. Names being received now are kept for January-February 2018 Issue. We print names on the basis of first-come-first.

Many branch Secretaries are enquiring over phone. No doubt, all are anxious to see that his/her name is included in the list. But, we have page constraints.

I request all to appreciate it and bear with us.

We are marching ahead.

25000 life members in a period of just six years.!

…… P S Ramankutty, Editor

We are thankful to Com. S C Mahewari,Secretary General of Bharat Pensioners Samaj for taking up the case of correction to the Concordance Table. We are thankful to him for the prompt response and immediate action.

........................................................................................

Bharat Pensioners Samaj Letter No. SG/BPS/17/pe-nrev/ 1

Dated 10.07.2017

To

Joint Secretary,G.O.I M/O Personnel, PG & Pensions-DOP &PW

(For the Kind Attention of Sh Sanjiv Narain Mathur)

Dear Sir,

Subject: Revision of pension of pre-2016 pensioners / family pensioners - implementation ofGovernment’s decision on the recommendations of the 7th Central Pay Commission- Concordancetables- regarding. Table Nos. 24 & 25

Reference: i) DOP&PW OM F.No.38/37/2016-P&PW(A) Dated 6th July,2017 & 12th May,2017.

ii) MOF (DOE) OM. 1/1/2008-IC dated 13th November, 2009

‘Bharat Pensioners Samaj’ the largest Federation of Pensioners Associations, while welcoming yourposting as J S DOP & PW, assure you of its co-operation and support. Indian Railway-men have a culture of to be always on the beck & call of its stake holders. We are sure that the Central Civil Pensioners will be looked after very well during your tenure.

Sir, we are also thankful to you and your team for helping the Pensioners Community by publishing Concordance Tables for the revision of pension of pre-2016 pensioners / family pensioners.

However, we invite your attention to Concordance Tables No. 24 & 25 issued vide DOPPW OM Dated 6-7-2017, wherein the orders issued vide MOF (DOE) OM. 1/1/2008-IC dated 13th November,2009 have not been taken care of, while finalizing the Concordance Table Nos. 24 & 25.

2. The posts which were in Pre-revised scale of Rs.6500-10500 as on 1.1.2006 were granted Grade Pay of 4600 corresponding to Pre-revised scale of Rs.7450-11500 w.e.f. 1-1-2006 vide Para 3 of MOF (DOE) OM dated 13-11-2009 cited above.

As such, for the purpose of working out Notional Pay all Pre-2016 Pensioners who retired from the pre-revised Scale of 6500-10500, are entitled to Grade Pay Rs.4600/ . But, the Concordance Table Nos. 24 & 25 show the scale of Rs.6500-10500 with GP 4200/-

3. In terms of DOP&PW OM dated 12-5-2017, the Notional Pay of all Pre-2016 Pensioners is required to be arrived at as if they were in service on 1-1-2016.

4. BPS, therefore, request that Concordance Tables Nos. 24 and 25 be revised taking into consideration the revised Grade Pay of Rs.4600

Thanking you in anticipation

Yours faithfully,

Er S.C. Maheshwari

Former DEN C.Rly

Secy. Genl. Bharat Pensioners Samaj

On 6-7-2017, the Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare has released one Ready Reckoner Table to help central government pensioners to revise their pension under the latest formulation approved by Cabinet.It is a very useful Table; no doubt.

But, unfortunately there is a mistake.

For those who retired before 1996 from the then Pay Scale of Rs 2000-3200 (JTOs, ASTTs, Grade IV etc.) the replacement scale from 1-1-1996 was Rs 6500-200-10500. From 1-1-2006 their replacement pay scale was 9300-34800. The sixth CPC bunched pay scales of 5000-8000, 5500-9000 and 6500-10500 together and gave a single pay band of 9300-34800. Those who got promotion and those who did not get promotion, all got same pay band and same grade pay of Rs 4200.

Later on, to undo the anomaly, the Finance Ministry vide their Office Memorandum dated 13-11-2009, raised the Grade Pay for 6500-10500 from Rs 4200 to Rs 4600. Now, DoP&PW has prepared the Concordance Table without noticing the above change.Those who retired from the said pay scale of 6500-10500 will lose a good amount in their re-fixation of pension.

I sent Email to leaders of more than 50 central government pensioners’ organizations supplying a copy of the said OM dated 13-11-2009 and requested them to take up the matter. I sent an email pointing out the mistake to the concerned officer in Pension Department also.

It has to be rectified. Else it will be a gross injustice to the senior Class III officials retired.

WE REGRET TO INFORM WITH GREAT GRIEF THAT COM D.GNANIAH FORMER SECRETARY GENERAL OF NFPTE , A MARXIST PHILOSOPHER AND SOCIALIST IS NO MORE. HE EXPIRED TODAY AT 4:30 AM AT COIMBATORE. WE PAY OUR RESPECTS TO HIM ON BEHALF OF AIBSNLPWA. RED SALUTE TO COM GNANIAH

As already told by us, the IDA rate from 1-7-2017 is 119%. Increase of 1.9% from the existing rate of 117.1%

The Department of Public Enterprises has issued orders.

See the orders clicking here: ida-july-2017-1.pdf ida-july-2017-2.pdf

Central Government has decided to reduce number of Central Tribunals from 36 to 18. Government has also taken over the power to appoint judges in these Tribunals. Without any comment, we are reproducing below a report appeared in the MAIL TODAY on 1-7-2017.

"The case backlog before Customs, Excise And Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) is 97,672 cases and the total revenue implication climbs up to a whopping Rs 1,31,380 crores. Ironically, it was set up to cut down pendency in revenue-related courts.Another major tribunal, the Debt Recovery Tribunal has a pendency of nearly 50,000 cases. A rough estimate of the amount stuck in these courts puts it at Rs 14,38,725 crores. The Ahmedabad branch of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal which is headless since three years alone has a case backlog of 13,000 cases. The Modi government has decided to bring down the number of central tribunals from the present 36 to 18. The proposal for the merger of tribunals has been made a part of the Finance Act 2017 passed recently......"

3 DISTRICT BRANCHES HAVING MORE THAN 1000 LIFE MEMBERS: BANGALORE (1342), ERNAKULAM (1281) AND HYDERABAD (1078).

7 BRANCHES FAST APPROACHING THE TARGET OF 1000 LMs:

WEST GODAVARI (796), VIJAYAWADA (715), TIRUNELVELI (651), CHENNAI STR (625), CUDDALORE (622), MADURAI (616) VILLIVAKKAM (620).

NOTE: MADURAI HAS TOTAL MEMBERSHIP OF MORE THAN 1500 NOW.

Message from Com. S Narasimha Rao, District Secretary, AIBSNLPWA, Hyderabad:

"I am happy to inform you that our Hyderabad district branch achieved life membership of 1,078 thus crossing one thousand mark. We have eight branches. Out of these eight branches, Saroor Nagar branch achieved 350 life membership. "

AIBSNLPWA ONWARD MARCH........

A new branch of our Association is formed in Morena SSA of MP. The branch has 35 members and all the 35 are Life Members.

Comrades R C Chaurasia, D K Sharma and A K Shivhare are elected as President, District Secretary and Treasurer of the new branch.

CHQ welcomes the comrades of Morena.

The Statement of Donations received by our CHQ during the recent past is attached here.

donations-till-30-6-17.xlsx

All India Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (AICPI)for the month of May 2017 is announced formally.

It is 278 points for May 2017.

It was 275 points for March 2017.

It was 277 points for April 2017.

Hence,the rate of IDA from July 2017 will be 119%.

An increase of 1.9% from the existing 117.1%.

OBITUARY

Yesterday night at 22.30, Com. DG informed me over phone that Com. R Srinivasulu, former Chennai District Secretary of erstwhile T III Union and a member of AIBSNLPWA, breathed his last, ending his struggle against all ill-fate. When I met him in his house three months back along with DG, Rama Rao, Ranganathan etc. he was confident that he was on the recovery route from the dreaded disease of Cancer.

Sreelu, as we called him fondly, was a brilliant chap. He used to study all issues in depth and presented his views very cohesively. We witnessed it in Circle Conferences and All India Conferences as well. He was a good orator. He was very polite and pleasant. I expected that he would succeed Com. DG as Circle Secretary of T III in Tamilnadu, at some point of time.

His daughter met with a serious accident while going to office. For the last 16-17 years the girl is on wheelchair. Sreenivasulu's wife, a Telegraphist, took VRS to look after the daughter. Sreelu had to withdraw from active TU Life. But worse is that he himself had the attack of Cancer. Finally he surrendered to the dreaded disease yesterday at 10.00PM.

It is a relief to him from the pain and sufferings. But, we shall miss him.

I convey my heartfelt condolences to the family and his comrades. ...... P S Ramankutty

DOT has been always asking BSNL to submit the pension papers of retiring staff six months before their retirement. Corporate Office has issued several instructions, reminders and reminders again to Circles in this regard. But, there is no impact for all these.

On 27-6-2017, the Corporate Office of BSNL has issued another letter to Circles quoting the Data.

During the four months of November 2016, December 2016, January 2017 and February 2017 3653 employees retired from BSNL. Only in 1562 cases (42%) Pension has been sanctioned. BSNL has not submitted the pension papers in 1567 cases. 524 cases are pending in CCA offices.

Just remember that in P&T, thereafter in DOT also, there was no delay in sanctioning pension. Many of us got the PPOs on the day of retirement or within a week.

Now, in BSNL nobody cares the people retiring.

Rate of the Fixed Medical Allowance being granted to central government pensioners is raised from the existing Rs 500 per month to Rs 1000 per month. Five lakh central government pensioners who are not covered by the CGHS shall be benefited by this hike.

The Cabinet has today approved revision of HRA and other allowances for the serving central government employees. The new HRA rate is 24%, 16% and 8% of the revised basic Pay. It takes place from 1-7-2017. Employees have been demanding it from 1-1-2016.

Formal orders are awaited.

On 16-12-2016, the honourable CAT, Principal Bench, New Delhi delivered its judgement in the pension anomaly case filed by our association.The last paragraph of the judgement is quoted 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.

P.K. Basu,( MemberA), (Justice M.S. Sullar (Member J)...."

Now, six months have since passed. Department has not yet honoured the Judgement. When enquired in Directorate, it was told that DOT had asked the Government Advocate to file an appeal petition in High Court. To avoid an ex-parte decision by High Court we immediately filed a caveat petition in the HC. No Appeal has been filed so far. Three months have passed since then also. Now, we are consulting our advocate about filing contempt of Court Petition in CAT.