MACP Scheme is a matter of Government Policy and there is nothing in it warranting interference by Courts – Supreme Court judgment
Wednesday, November 25, 2020
Monday, November 23, 2020
Implementation of Governments decisions on the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission Revision of pension of pre-2016 pensioners/family pensioners etc. (Dated 12/11/2020)
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Tuesday, October 13, 2020
CGPA/KL/GL/2020 13-10-2020
Smt. Nirmala Seetharaman
Hon’ble Finance Minister
Room No. 134, North Block, New Delhi
Ref:
GOI Ministry of Finance Department of
Expenditure F.No.12(2)/2020-E II(A) dt 12-10-2020
Thanking you,
yours faithfully
G. Saharajan Nair, General Secretary
Copy to:
Dr. Jithendra
Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension – Kindly take
up the matter with Ministry of Fuince and cause to issue necessary orders in
this regard
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Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Restoration of Rail Travel Concession to Senior Citizens - Regarding
CGPA/KL/GL/2020 dated 01-10-2020
Shri Piyush Goyal
Hon’ble Minister for Railways
Rail Bhawan, Rafi Marg
New Delhi,110001
Sub: Restoration of
Rail Travel Concession to Senior Citizens - Regarding
Respected Sir,
As you are aware Senior Citizens of the age of
60 years and above for men and 58 years and above for women were eligible for
concession in passenger fares @ 40% and 50% respectively in all classes of
trains except Garibrath and ordinary passenger trains. The above concessions
were all on a sudden withdrawn during March this year on the specious reason of
curbing unnecessary travel of Senior Citizens and thereby reducing the spread
of Covid -19. More than six months elapsed since then and the unlocking process
is gradually going on. Senior Citizens are well aware of the risks in
undertaking journeys. Besides, there is
no possibility for undertaking pleasure trips at present as tourist
destinations all over India are still not operational.
In spite of all these, they are
compelled to travel in trains in unavoidable circumstances and emergency
situations disclosing their full identity. It is inhuman to deny them
concessional fare on that occasions. So this Association, to day, on this ‘World
Senior Citizens Day’, urges upon your goodself to direct the Railway Board
to revisit the earlier order and restore Rail Travel Concessions to Senior
Citizens, at the earliest.
Thanking you
yours faithfully
G. Saharajan Nair
General Secretary
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Monday, September 14, 2020
EXTENSION OF PERIOD FOR SUBMISSION OF LIFE CERTIFICATE FROM OCTOBER 2020 TILL DECEMBER 2020
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Friday, August 28, 2020
Pension is a property under Art.300-A and a fundamental right to livelihood under Art-21 of the Constitution. Bombay HC imposes a fine of Rs. 50000/- on SBI for unauthorized deduction from pension
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Thursday, July 23, 2020
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
FREEZING
OF DA/DR BY GOI IS IN ORDER - DELHI HIGH
COURT RULING
IN
THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
W.P.(C)
3308/2020
HITESH BHARDWAJ
..... Petitioner versus
MINISTRY OF
FINANCE, UNION OF INDIA AND ANR ..... Respondent
CORAM : HON'BLE
MR. JUSTICE VIPIN SANGHI & HON'BLE
MR. JUSTICE RAJNISH BHATNAGAR
O
R D E R (01.06.2020)
The present writ
petition has been preferred in public interest seeking following reliefs:
“a) Issue a Writ
of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction to the
Respondents to withdraw the notification issued by the Ministry of Finance,
Government of India
b) Issue a Writ
of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction to the
Respondents to withdraw the endorsement against the notification, issued by the
Ministry of Finance, Government of NCT of Delhi.
c) Issue a Writ
of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction to the
Respondents to defreeze and release the enhanced Dearness Allowance to the
Central Government Servants and pensioners as per norms.
d) Issue a Writ
of Mandamus or any other appropriate Writ, order or direction to the
Respondents to defreeze and release the enhanced Dearness Allowance to the
Government Servants and pensioners of GNCTD as per norms.” The respondent no.
1/Union of India issued an Office Memorandum dated 23.04.2020 which is the
cause for the petitioner’s grievance in the present writ petition. The said
Office Memorandum reads as follows:
“
No.1/1/2020-E-II(B)
Government
of India, Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure
North
Block, New Delhi, Dated the 23rd April, 2020.
OFFICE
MEMORANDUM
Subject:
Freezing of Dearness Allowance to Central Government employees and Dearness
Relief to Central Government pensioners at current rates till July 2021.
The undersigned is directed to say that
in view of the crisis arising out of COVID-19, it has been decided that the
additional instalment of Dearness Allowance payable to Central Government
employees and Dearness Relief to Central Government pensioners, due from 1st
January 2020 shall not be paid. The additional instalments of Dearness
Allowance and Dearness Relief due from 1st July 2020 and 1st January 2021 shall
also not be paid. However, Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief at current
rates will continue to be paid.
2. As and when
the decision to release the future instalment of Dearness Allowance and
Dearness Relief due from 1st July 2021 is taken by the Government, the rates of
Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief as effective from 1st January 2020, 1st
July 2020 and 1st January 2021 will be restored
prospectively and will be subsumed in the cumulative revised rate effective
from 1st July 2021. No arrears for the period from 1st January 2020 till 30th
June 2021 shall be paid.
3. These orders
shall be applicable to all Central Government employees and Central Government
pensioners.
Sd/-
(Annie George Mathew)
Additional
Secretary to the Government of India.”
The petitioner is also
aggrieved by the consequent order issued by respondent no. 2/GNCTD dated
24.04.2020, whereby the GNCTD has followed suit in terms of the Office
Memorandum dated 23.04.2020 issued by respondent no. 1. The Office Memorandum
dated 23.04.2020, in effect, conveys the decision of the Central Government
that Dearness Allowance due to the
Central Government Employees and Dearness Relief due to the Central Government
Pensioners from 01.01.2020 shall not be paid. It also states that additional
installment of the Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief due from 01.07.2020
and 01.01.2021 shall also not be paid. Pertinently, Dearness Allowance and
Dearness Relief at the current rates would continue to be paid. The said Office
Memorandum further states that as and when the decision to release future
installment of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief due from 01.07.2021 is
taken by the Government, rates of the Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief as
effective from 01.01.2020, 01.07.2020 and 01.07.2021 will be restored prospectively,
and will be subsumed in the cumulative revised rate effective from 01.07.2020.
No arrears from the period 01.01.2020 till 30.06.2021 shall be paid.
The first submission of the petitioner is
that Central Government Employees and Central Government Pensioners have a
vested right to receive the enhanced Dearness Allowance/ Dearness Relief which
has already been declared effective from 01.01.2020. The said increase was declared
at 4%. The petitioner also claims that such employees and pensioners also have
vested right to continue to receive enhancement in Dearness Allowance/ Dearness
Relief on and from 01.07.2020 and 01.01.2021.
To examine the merit of this submission,
we may refer to the All India Services (Dearness Allowance) Rules, 1972. These
statutory rules have been framed by the Central Government after consultation
with the Government of the States concerned in exercise of powers conferred by
SubSection (1) of Section 3 of All India Services Act,1952. Rule 3 of the said Rule
is relevant and which reads as follows:
“3. Regulation
of dearness allowance: Every member of the Service and every officer, whose
initial pay is fixed in accordance with sub-rule (5) or sub-rule (6A) of rule 4
of the Indian Administrative Service (Pay) Rules, 1954 or sub-rule (5) of rule
4 of the Indian Police Service (Pay) Rules, 1954 or sub-rule (6) of rule 4 of
the Indian Forest Service (Pay) Rules, 1968, shall be entitled to draw dearness
allowance at such rates, and subject to such conditions, as may be specified by the Central Government, from time to time,
in respect of the officers of Central Civil Services, Class I.” (emphasis supplied)
From the above Rule, it would be seen
that Central Government servants shall be entitled to draw Dearness Allowance
“at such rates, and subject to such conditions, as may be specified by the
Central Government, from time to time, in respect of officers of the Central
Civil Service, ClassI”. We may notice that there is no other statutory rule
brought to our notice relating to payment of Dearness Allowance or Dearness
Relief and it appears that the said Rule governs the payment of Dearness
Allowance and Dearness Relief to Government servants and Government Pensioners
of the Union in respect of all the classes of employees.
The above rule shows that the entitlement to
draw Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief is determined by the Central
Government. The same may be specified by the Central Government from time to
time, subject to whatever conditions the Government may deem fit to impose.
From the above Rule, it is clear to us
that, firstly, there is no statutory rule which obliges the Central Government
to continue to enhance the Dearness Allowance or Dearness Relief at regular
intervals i.e. to revise the same upwards from time to time. Consequently,
there is no vested right in the Central Government Employees, or Central
Government Pensioners to receive higher Dearness Allowance or Dearness Relief
on regular intervals.
Pertinently, by the impugned Office
Memorandum, the Central Government has frozen – and not withdrawn, the Dearness
Allowance and Dearness Relief being paid to Central Government Employees and
Central Government Pensioners at the time of issuance of the said Office Memorandum.
So far as the submission with regard
to increase of 4% Dearness Allowance or Dearness Relief with effect from
01.01.2020 is concerned, the impugned Office Memorandum does not seek to take
it away. All that it does is to postpone its payment till after 01.07.2021.
That power, in our view, resides with the Central Government, by virtue of Rule
3 of the All India Services (Dearness Allowance) Rule, 1972, since the Central
Government is
empowered to take the decision to make payment of Dearness Allowance/Dearness
Relief, subject to such conditions as the Central Government may specify from
time to time.
The submission of learned counsel for
the petitioner is that the Central Government in the impugned Office Memorandum
has referred to COVID19 pandemic as the reason for its decision contained in
the said Office Memorandum. However, the impugned Office Memorandum has not
been issued by the competent authority under the Disaster Management Act. We do
not find merit in this submission. The provisions of the Disaster Management
Act are not the only repository of the power of the Government to take action
in the light of the pandemic. As noticed above, the power to determine as to
how much Dearness Allowance is to be paid, i.e. at what rates, and subject to
what condition, resides with the Central Government by virtue of Rule 3 of All
India Services (Dearness Allowance) Rules, 1972. Merely because the said
impugned Office Memorandum makes reference to the COVID-19 pandemic, it does
not follow that the only provision which the respondents could have invoked are
those contained in the Disaster Management Act. The Central Government, by
referring to COVID-19 pandemic in the impugned communication, has merely
provided its reasons and justification for its decision contained in the said
Office Memorandum.
The next submission of the learned
counsel for the petitioner is that the impugned Office Memorandum is also in
violation of Article 360(4)(a)(i) of the Constitution of India. Article 360 of
the Constitution of India contains the provision as to financial emergency, and
it provides that if the President is satisfied that a situation has arisen
whereby the financial stability of credit in India or any part of the territory
thereof is threatened, he
may, by a
proclamation make declaration to that effect. The submission is that President
of India has not declared financial emergency. The further submission is that
it is only during financial emergency declared by the President, that by virtue
of Sub-Article 4(a)(i) – a provision could be made requiring reduction of
salaries and allowances of all or any class of persons serving in connection
with the affairs of the State. Since no financial emergency has been declared, the
Office Memorandum in question could not have been issued which is referable to
Article 360(4)(a)(i) of the Constitution of India.
We find this submission to be
completely misplaced. This is for the reason that Article 360(4)(a)(i) deals
with a situation where the Government seeks to reduce the salary or allowance
of all, or any class of persons,
serving in
connection with the affairs of the State. In the present case, the Office
Memorandum does not seek to reduce either the salaries or allowances, which
includes Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief in respect of serving
Government servants, or its pensioners. All that it does is to freeze the
payment of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief at the pre-existing level,
and to put in abeyance any increase in Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief
till July, 2021. The said freeze does not tantamount to reduction of either
salary, or allowances, of persons serving in connection with the affairs of the
State.
The further submission of learned counsel
for the petitioner is that the Office Memorandum could not have been issued by mere
issuance of an office order, and the same should have been either framed as a
statutory rule, or by issuing a gazette notification. We do not find any basis
for this submission. We have noticed Rule 3 of the All India Services (Dearness
Allowance) Rules, 1972. The said Rule does not state that the Central
Government can form, or communicate, its decision with regard to entitlement to draw Dearness
Allowance, subject to conditions, only by framing another rule, or by a gazette
notification. There is no such requirement in law. Therefore, we do not find
any merits in this submission as well.
So far as the right to receive the
increase of Dearness Allowance/ Dearness Relief already declared by the
Government with effect from 01.01.2020 is concerned, it falls well within the
domain of the Central Government to decide as to when to disburse the said
increase. There is no obligation in law upon the Central Government to disburse
the increase in Dearness Allowance/ Dearness Relief within a time bound manner.
Rule 3 of All India Services (Dearness Allowance) Rules referred to above,
itself empowers the Central Government to lay down the conditions subject to which
Dearness Allowance may be drawn by officers of Central Government.
For the aforesaid reasons we do not
find any merit in this petition and the same is, accordingly, dismissed.
VIPIN
SANGHI, J & RAJNISH BHATNAGAR, J
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CAT Ernakulam orders to pay arrears of pension from 01-01-2006
itself to those pre-2006 pensioners who retired from the scale of Rs.
6500-10500/-
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Monday, April 27, 2020
CGPA KERALA - LETTER TO MOS, PENSION MINISTRY NOT TO CURTAIL PENSIONARY BENEFITS DUE TO FREEZING OF DA INSTALMENTS
CGPA/KL/GL/2020 25-04-2020
To
Dr. Jitendra Singh
Minister of State, Department of
Personnel and Training
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and
Pensions,
Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi -110
003
Sub: Freezing of instalments of Dearness Relief due
to Central Government pensioners during the period 01-01-2020 to 30-06-2021
Ref: Government of India, Ministry of Finance,
Department of Expenditure OM 01/01/2020-E(II)(B) dated
23rd April 2020
Respected Sir,
Kind reference is invited to the OM
cited.As per extant rules, dearness allowance admissible on the date of
retirement / death shall be treated as emoluments for computing pensionary
benefits such as gratuity, leave encashment. As per the OM cited, DA due to
Central Government employees during the period 01-01-2020 to 30-06-2021 will be
frozen. It is presumed that the intention of the Government is to freeze DA
instalments only and not to curtail pensionary benefits. In that case, to avoid
confusion among pension sanctioning authorities, a clarificatory order may be
caused to be issued by the Pension Ministry urgently to notionally calculate DA
admissible on the date of retirement /death of the employee and reckon that full
amount of DA for calculating retirement benefits.
Thanking
you,
yours faithfully
G. Saharajan Nair
General Secretary
Copy to: Secretary to Government of India, Ministry
of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Department of Pension &
Pensioners’ Welfare, Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market, New Delhi -110 003
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CGPA KERALA-LETTER TO PM REQUESTING TO RESCIND DR FREEZING ORDERS
CGPA/KL/GL/2020 25-04-2020
To
The Hon’ble Prime Minister of
India
South Block, New Delhi-110001
Sub: Freezing
of instalments of Dearness Relief due to Central Government pensioners during
the period
01-01-2020 to 30-06-2021
Ref: Government of India, Ministry of Finance,
Department of Expenditure OM 01/01/2020-E(II)(B) dated
23rd April 2020
Respected Sir,
We, the Central Government Pensioners,
are shocked to learn that the three instalments of Dearness Relief due to us
during the period 01-01-2020 to 30-06-2021 will be freezed as ordered in the Government
of India OM cited. The decision is unjust and is causing considerable disquiet
among the Central Government Pensioners due to the following reasons:-
(i) Majority
of Central Government Pensioners/family pensioners are getting a monthly
pension of less than Rs 20000/- only. They are in the sun set years of their life
and are prone to various diseases. As such they are destined to expend major amount
of pension towards medical treatment / purchase of medicines. With balance
amount, actually they do not live, but only subsist. They are eagerly waiting
for release of every instalment of Dearness Relief as every rupee is a valuable
amount for them. Denial of this relief causes mental frustration and agony
among these hapless pensioners whose only source of income is the meager amount
of pension and the dearness relief thereon.
(ii) The
pay and allowances of Central Government
employees are determined by the CPCs based on Dr. Aykroyd’s formula. If the
same formula is applied in the case of pensioners they are entitled to 60% of
last pay drawn as basic pension. But this formulae was not followed in the case
of pensioners and instead basic pension was arbitrarily curtailed to 50% of
last pay drawn, without any valid reason. Resultantly every pensioner is
sacrificing 20% of the amount of pension now getting and the Dearness Relief
thereon every month which is tantamount to their indirect contribution to
Consolidated Fund of India
(iii) Central Government pensioners and their
Associations are behind none in discharging their responsibility and commitment
to the nation in the hours of crisis. Be it war, natural calamities or
disasters, the pensioners and their Associations have a cherished history of
voluntarily donating more than what they could afford to the Relief Funds. This
time too, to overcome the financial crisis arising out of COVID-19, we are voluntarily
ready to render maximum financial assistance that we can, to Governments.
Actually, many of us have already donated one month’s pension or more to Prime
Minister’s Fund created for the purpose. As such, compulsorily impounding of DR
instalments is felt unnecessary.
In view of the reasons stated
above, this Association fervently hope that your goodself will be kind enough
to cause to rescind the order issued unilaterally to freeze the three
instalments of Dearness Relief. We hope that decision taken by the Union
Cabinet on 13-03-2020 to release the DR due on 01-01-2020 will be implemented
soon.
Thanking you,
yours faithfully
(G. Saharajan Nair)
General Secretary
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Friday, April 24, 2020
Friday, April 3, 2020
AN APPEAL
DONATE LIBERALLY TO
KERALA CHIEF
MINISTER'S DISTRESS RELIEF FUND
The global pandemic COVID -19 is
destructing the world. It has affected even the routine life of mankind. World
citadels of economy are crumbling down. In India, Kerala is one of the worst
affected states. No Government can overcome this unprecedented onslaught with
its meagre shattered resources. The Government needs our help. We, the Central
Government Pensioners, are committed to render all possible financial help to Government,
in this hour of crisis. The Secretariat of CGPA, Kerala appeals to our members
to donate liberally, in any case not less than ONE DAY'S PENSION, to Kerala
Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund, through our Association. (The donation is
100% tax free)
General Secretary, CGPA, Kerala
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Thursday, April 2, 2020
Friday, March 27, 2020
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Lakshadweep Special Pay Optee pensioners are entitled to notional fixation of pay reckoning special pay also w.e.f. 01-01-1996 and consequent revision of pension – Judgement of Kerala High Court
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Friday, January 31, 2020
Tuesday, January 7, 2020
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