25th SCOVA meeting on 05.09.2014

Secy.JCM (staff side) Com. Shiva Gopal Mishra supported BPS on all Issue raised by it in SCOVA 25^th meeting 0n 5^th of Sept 2014.

Honorable MOS DrJitinder Singh arrived at 11.25 hrs. SCM Secy. Genl BPS & ComS.G.Mishra Secy.JCM (staff side) were seated exactly opposite the Honorable MOS(P).First of all tribute was paid to Sh Umraomal Prohit. One minute silence was observed in his honor.While welcoming, the Minister.MsVandana Sharma J.S (p) gave brief description of SCOVA & other activities &achievements of DOPPW. There after MOS took up the Mic to speak but Secy. JCM requested him to first have feel of the house to which the Minister agreed .

Secy. JCM while introducing himself stressed (i)that the  SCOVA Agenda  be decided in consultance with JCM(staff side) & SCOVA members (ii)More time be given for SCOVA meeting with increased frequency& if need be meeting may be conducted on Saturday or Sundays (iii)Court judgments be implemented to all similarly placed pensioners w/o trying to push each one of them to the Court. (iv) every ministry & Departments have agreed to meet pensioners once a week but Rly Ministry will meet 11 lac pensioner  only once a year i.e. on 15^th of December  which is ridiculous (v) SCOVA Minutes are one sided, it should contain non official member’s version also. Draft minutes should be circulated first for member’s comments.

Secy Genl BPS SCM pointed out(i) that though Pensioners Portal is promptly providing orders/circulars/notifications issued by DOPPW but other Ministries & Departments are not doing so (ii)Grievances recorded on Portal are closed for the sake of closing & are not being resolved properly.(iii) when tried to raise the issue of implementation of CAT ordersJS interrupted saying that it is  in today’s Agenda & will be discussed when Agenda is taken- up. Sh. Y.N. Sastry pointed out that when 7^th CPC was requested for effective grievance redressal mechanism. Chairman remarked “It will not help you. Court is the only alternative” which amply highlights the poor grievance mechanism.            

Minister’s response was positive & Secy. was asked to take notes of the issues raised, he observed that henceforth Grievances should not be closed for the sake of closing. He also advised SCOVA members & representative of Pensioners Associations especially those based in Delhi & NCR to often visit DOPPW to interact with officers & to assist them to serve Pensioners in a better way.As the minister was required to attend visiting Australian PM he left after his address with instructions to Secretary to continue.

ATR  & Fresh Agenda was discussed thereafter. Highlights as follows

1.Issue of revised PPOS : Non official SCOVA members expressed reservation& suspicion on the  progress given in ATR

2.Pension Adalat :Non official members asked for amendment in Pension Adalat Rules to allow Associations to plead Pensioners cases and for increase in frequency.

3.CGHS :  Discrimination with Postal pensioners & extention of facility to BSNL Pensioners 2.Secy Genl BPS pointed out the health care is not a luxury in the hands of few privileged rather it is a fundamental Right of all present &past employees w/o  status or departments discrimination as pronounced by Supreme Court . All Pensioners irrespective of department & status t be provided adequate health care facilities. Secy DOPW  remarked “I fully agree with you” .Issue of  supply of medicines, reimbursements increasing coverage etc were also raised  : Secy ruled, DOPPW will request M/o Health & FW to evolve integrated health care system . Till such time JS (p) will take up with DG CGHS the issues of discrimination with Postal pensioners, extension of facilty to BSNL pensioners & supply of medicine etc

Government announced the D A @ 7% from 01.7.2014

Government on Thursday approved 7 per cent hike in dearness allowance (DA), taking it to 107 per cent of basic pay, a move that will benefit around 30 lakh central employees and 50 lakh pensioners including dependents.

"The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for the release of an additional instalment of DA to general government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from July 1, 2014. This is an increase of seven percent over the existing rate of 100 percent of the Basic Pay/Pension, to compensate for price rise," a press statement said here.

The increase is in accordance with the accepted formula, which is based on the recommendations of the 6th Central Pay Commission, it said.

The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and DR would be about Rs 7,691 crore per annum and Rs 5,127 crore respectively in the financial year 2014-2015 (for eight months -- July, 2014 to February, 2015), it added.

As per the practice, the dearness allowance is worked out on the basis of 12 month average of Consumer Price Index for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW).

The average rate of retail inflation for industrial workers from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 was 7.25 per cent.

Therefore, the central government decided to hike dearness allowance for it employees by 7 per cent.

The previous UPA government had increased DA to 100 per cent from 90 per cent with effect from January 1, 2014, on February 28 on the basis of agreed formula for revision of the allowance.

Merger of DA with Pay and Interim Relief

Finance Ministry has informed National Council (Staff Side), JCM that as per 7th CPC terms of reference, 7th Pay Commission to send Interim Report and that Staff Side might approach the Pay Commission for a report on Interim Relief and Merger of Dearness Allowance.  Hence, Staff Side, JCM has written now to 7th Pay Commission for payment of Interim Relief and Merger of Dearness Council (Staff Side), JCM writes to 7th Pay Commission Allowance with pay as Dearness Allowance as DA crossed 100%.The Text Staff Side, JCM lettr dated 21.08.2014 addressed to 7th CPC is as follows

From

Shiva Gopal Mishra                                                                      

Secretary National Council (Staff Side)

Joint consultative Machinery for Central government employees

13-C, Ferozshah Road, New Delhi –110001

21-08-2014

To

The Hon’ ble Chairman,

7th Central Pay Commission

Chatrapati Shivaji Bhawan,

1st Floor, B-14/A, Qutab Institutional Area,

New Delhi -110016

Respected Sir,

Reg : Payment of Interim Relief and Merger of Dearness Allowance with Pay.

The Staff Side of National Council (JCM), had raised the issue regarding payment of interim relief and merger of dearness allowance with pay , as an Agenda Item of the Standing Committee of National Council (JCM ) in its meeting held on 7th May, 2014.

After detailed deliberations , it was stated by the Secretary (Expenditure), Ministry of Finance on this item that since the terms of reference enables the 7th CPC to send Interim Report , as such, the Staff Side might approach the Pay Commission for a report on Interim Relief and Merger of Dearness Allowance, as recorded in the Record Note of meeting, forwarded to Staff Side vide Director(JCA), Government of India, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensioners , Department of Pension and Pensioner’s Welfare ‘s letter No. 3/9/2014/JCA dt.24/7/2014.

We, therefore, humbly request you to kindly favourably consider our demand of payment of Interim Relief and Merger of Dearness Allowance with pay as Dearness Allowance, has since crossed the value of 100% on 1st January, 2014 and a number of Government Employees are superannuating every month, which would be deprived of the benefit of the same.

Yours sincerely,

                                                                                 sd/  (Siva Gopal Mishra )

                                                                                      Secretary (Staff Side)

New Pension Rules to check delays in fixing & payment of Pensionary benefits

In a step aimed at checking harassment of government employees in grant of pension, a head of office will now be responsible for any failure to ascertain non-qualifying service period and will undertake preparation of paper work one year before an employee is due to retire.

According to new pension rules notified by the government, retiring employees will not have to face any delay in determination of pension due to deficiency in application forms and authorities can go ahead with determining the amount of provisional pension and provisional retirement gratuity.

Till now, employees had to run from pillar to post in many cases to get their service record verified.

As per new rules, every head of office shall undertake the work of preparation of pension papers in Form 7 one year before the date on which a government servant is due to retire on superannuation, or on the date on which he proceeds on leave preparatory to retirement, whichever is earlier. Earlier, the time period to undertake such work was two years.

Also, if any portion of service rendered by a government servant is not capable of being verified in the manner specified in rules, then the government servant shall be asked to file a written statement on plain paper within a month, stating that he had in fact rendered service for that period, and shall, at the foot of the statement, make and subscribe to a declaration as to the truth of that statement.

The head of office shall, after taking into consideration the facts in the written statement admit that portion of service as having been rendered for the purpose of calculating the pension of that government servant, it said. The rules, notified on Friday, also fix responsibility on head of office for failure to verify service records of a retiring employees. The head-of-office is responsible for verifying service book of a government servant in a time bound manner.

"If at any time thereafter, it is found that the head of office and other concerned authorities had failed to communicate any non-qualifying period of service, the Secretary of the administrative ministry or department shall fix responsibility for such non-communication," the new rules said.

There are many other provisions in the new rules to remove hurdles faced by a retiring employee or dependent family members (after the employee's death) in processing of pension papers. "If the person eligible for family pension is a minor or is suffering from any disorder or disability of mind or is mentally retarded, the guardian may submit a claim in Form 14 on behalf of such person," the rules said. There are about 50 lakh central government pensioners.

In cases where the pension papers have been returned to the head of office for eliciting further information before issuing pension payment order, the head of office shall rely upon such information as may be available in the official records, and without delay, determine the amount of provisional pension and the amount ofprovisional retirement gratuity, it said. "If a government servant is found to have given any incorrect information wilfully, which makes him or her entitled to any benefits which he or she is not otherwise entitled to, it shall be construed as a grave misconduct," the rules said.

"The head of office shall write to the Directorate of Estates at least one year before the anticipated date of retirement of the government servant who was or is in occupation of a government accommodation for issuing a 'No demand certificate' in respect of the period preceding eight months of the retirement of the allottee," the rules notified by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said.

Earlier, the time period for writing to the Directorate of Estates was two years.

69th Circle DAK ADALAT

67th Pension Adalat would be held on 12.09.2014 (Friday) in the office of Chief Postmaster-General, A.P Circle, Hyderabad. Last date fixed for submission of grievances is 13.08.2014 to Sri T. Satya Hari, A.O O/o of DAP, Hyderabad. Grievances, if any, may be sent to the above address endorsing a copy to Sri M. Chandramouli, Secretary, POPA for ready reference.