Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Verdict by ATF

Dear Veterans,

The favourable Verdict of ATF, in Majors' Pension case was expected & I had pointed this out when the case was filed by Lt Cdr Avtar singh. The success is mainly due to the fact that the case was not filed, siting various other cases where the SC, to the interpretation of some Veterans, had pointed towards the acceptense of the priciple of OROP. This case was mainly fought on the merits of interpretaion of a Govt Order, which was a blatant & deliberate misinterpretation. The following quote from Maj Navdeep Singh is valid.


"To be fair to the Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare, they tried their best to reason out with the Department of Expenditure that their (DOE's) interpretation of pension fixation for pre-2006 retirees was not right and that it needed to be corrected and the clarification revised. But despite the fact that the Ministers (MoS) of both the Finance and the Personnel Ministries were in favour of the correction in the right spirit of the 6th CPC recommendations, it was ensured by the lower level babus at the Ministry of Finance that it did not happen. The case was taken up time and again by the DoP&PW but was always rejected by the DoE".

However, this victoty is not a pointer towards OROP at all. But contrary to the usual practice, the Govt may not prefer an appeal against the Verdict in the SC, because the case so far was pursued by very low level bureaucrats of the concerned Ministry.


Veteran Raman

Col (Retd) TN Raman
E5/230, AWHO Parameswaran Vihar,
67, Arcot Road, Saligramam,
Chennai 600093

AFT judgement in favour of Major's Equivalent

From: avtar singh avtar_singh10@hotmail.com
Subject: Major Case with AFT Delhi
To:
Cc: DELETED
Date: Tuesday, 14 September, 2010, 1:48 PM
Dear All,

I am pleased to inform you that we have won the case filed with AFT Delhi

Regards

Avtar Singh
14-9-2010
------------
From: CDR BALAJI [mailto:balajicso@yahoo.co.in]
Sent: 14 September 2010 03:31
To: avtar singh
Cc: DELETED – PLEASE MAKE USE OF BCC MODE OF ADDRESSEES. YOU ARE ENDANGERING EMAIL IDs OF YOUR FRIENDS.
Subject: Re: Major Case with AFT Delhi


Dear Sir,
Good News and Heartiest Congratulations to your goodself for spearheading the same on behalf of Majors and Eqv. I do understand that the Judgement Copy would take some time. However, in the interim if you could enlighten us on the main issues on which the AFT has passed the Judgement, we would indeed be obliged.

Needless, to state that the GOI would appeal against the Judgement in the Supreme Court, but I am positive we would win the case, as it is indeed a case of blatant injustice.

Regards,

L/Cdr GK Balaji
Member, Pension Cell IESM
99625-00199

Monday, August 16, 2010

Denial of enhanced pension to 'Widows'

Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 08:52:36 +0530
Subject: [CoreGpIESM] Re: [MilitaryVeterans] Re: ESM Sitrep 12 Aug Evening : Denial of enhanced pension to 'Widows'


Dear Sir

The tables on page 94 of the letter implementing the 6PC clearly show that the pension is 60% of the maximum pension of the rank.

It has nor relevance to the length of service.

Government contention is therefore not correct that the family pension is based on length of service.

It was possible to pay the widows the pension of the rank.

Brgds

R W Pathak

Cdr Ravindra Waman Pathak I.N.(Retd)
Member and Coordinator IESM Pension Cell
(Mobile 919822329340)

Denial of enhanced pension to 'Widows'

From: IESM_GovBody@yahoogroups.com [mailto:IESM_GovBody@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of pravesh renjen
Sent: 15 August 2010 04:57
To: Governing Body
Cc: Core Group
Subject: [IESM_GovBody] RE: [CoreGpIESM] Re: [MilitaryVeterans] Re: ESM Sitrep 12 Aug Evening : Denial of enhanced pension to 'Widows'

Reference email from Cdr Pathak below.
Entirely true. Para 5 of the GoI Deptt of ESW letter dt 11 Nov 2008 on pensions clarifies this amply. To quote; family pension ----, in no case, shall be lower than thirty percent of the sum of the minimum of the pay in the pay band and the grade pay thereon corresponding to the pre-revised pay sacle in which the pensioner/ deceased Armed Force personnel had retired/ died including military service pay and 'X' Group pay where applicable.

There is no doubt.

God Bless,

Pravesh Renjen (Maj Gen PK Renjen, Member IESM Governing Body)

Monday, August 9, 2010

Maj Gen Pension Victory deflated by GOI

Maj Gen Pension Victory deflated by GOI

Hello every one,

Our SC case came up for hearing yesterday & Naresh & myself were present in the Court. Our Senior Counsel Nidhesh Gupta got up to argue the case
& the Govt Chart that they had given us .But the Govt lady counsel immediately got up & said it was not possible to discuss the case off hand & we must file a counter affidavit .

Justice Altamas Kabir agreed with her & the case is adjourned to 9th Sep & before that we have to give them our affidavit 10 days in Advance.
Thus another day was wasted & the never ending saga goes on & on . But I suppose one has to bear with system , I can however, assure you that it is NO joke to attend the hearing in this heat. !

All the same we have taken the responsibility so there is NO problem at all.

Please inform all your friends who are affected.
Warm regards
Satish
Maj Gen SC Suri (Retd)
Posted by Indian ExServicemen Movement at 11:18 PM

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Well Done every one at Pune

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Shashank Bendre
Date: 9 August 2010 10:08
Subject: [pensioncell_iesm] Pension Case-W/C Aroskar
To: IESM Pension Group




Dear All,

Wg. Cdr. Aroskar's (1996 retiree) pension was not revised by his PDA , The Bank of Maharashtra after Wg.Cdrs were placed in PB-4 and was being paid about Rs. 13000/- less than what he should have got with basic pension at Rs.25700/-. Unfortunately he suffers from a medical problem and therefore was not in a position to know that he was being denied correct amount of pension. Since I know Aroskar personally, I guided his wife and daughter in taking up the matter with the bank. They got the correct pension and the arrears in July 2010. The manager of the branch was unhelpful but after fighting the case, the bank paid interest on arrears at 8 % too.

In this case, Gp.Capt Phatak took a lot of pains to guide me and also brought up the matter with the CMD of the bank who was very symphathetic towards pensioners and especially the veterans.

This case shows that with proper guidance and effort. pensioners can get their dues. However, there would be countless number of pensioners and families of PBOR and those in small towns and villages, who are being denied their rightful dues but are unaware of it.

I am very thankful to G/C Phatak and Cdr. Ravindra Pathak of Pension Cell for their active help and guidance to me.

Regards,

Shashank Bendre
Wg. Cdr. (Retd)

Monday, July 5, 2010

4th Pay Commission anomaly‏ By Lt Col BL Sharma..President RDOA

4th Pay Commission anomaly‏ By Lt Col BL Sharma..President RDOA
Dear Veteran,

It has come to our notice that some of the lawyers at chandigarh & Delhi are misleading the armed forces officers and spinning money on 4th Pay commission anomaly case from officers. Please beware of such unethical fellows. Case is in Supreme Court. Ruling/Decision of HC or AFT is not valid.

The UOI has gone in for appeal in the supreme court against the SC Order of 08 Mar 2010..The courts are opening today i.e 05th July 2010.Depending upon its listing the case will be heard and decision given. Supreme Court's decision will be binding on all litigations in the country. There is no need to pay any money to anybody. Kindly wait for the Supreme Court decision. Thereafter RDOA will take it up for implementation. All officers are requested to have patience and donot get trapped

President, RDOA

Sunday, June 20, 2010

PARAWISE COMMENTS PREPARED BY MAJOR AK DHANAPALAN

PARAWISE COMMENTS PREPARED BY MAJOR AK DHANAPALAN
ON THE REVIEW PETITION FILED BY UNION OF INDIA
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA ON /5/2010




Para.1 - Main reason given for review, is huge amount (Rs.1623.7 Cr) involved. The judiciary has to look into whether justice has been done to the respondents or otherwise. It was proved beyond doubt that justice has NOT been done to the petitioners by the applicants.

Para2. - The present case is NOT related to the manner of pay fixation as prescribed in chapter 28.1 or 28.113 of the Pay commission report. The Pay Commission report is only RECOMMENDATORY in nature and has no legal standi. The Govt resolutions are statutory provisions. Resolution No.9E dt 18/3/87 clearly define that “Method of fixation of pay recommended for civilian employees in chapter 31 of the report should also be applied to the Armed Forces” . Accordingly the method of fixation notified in SRO 12E dt 23/9/86 is applicable in the case of Armed Forces.

Para.3- No Provision exists for reduction of Rank Pay from the total emoluments before fixing the pay in the scale. Rank Pay has been granted “in-addition to basic pay” .(Para (1) (i) of the said resolution No.9E dt 18/3/87) This Rank Pay has been granted exclusive to Armed Forces.

Para.4- The Rank Pay is not meant to differentiate between the ranks by deducting the same from the Basic Pay. The contention of the petitioner is absolutely wrong. Army Instruction is a subordinate instruction and cannot over ride the statutory rules.

Para.5.- “Carved out of emoluments” is a new terminology used in this petition only. This is nowhere used either in the pay commission report or in the Govt orders. This terminology is used only to mislead this H’ble court. Method of fixation of pay has been defined in the said SRO which also gives all required definitions/ explanations (para3).

Para6.- Govt of India through the resolutions 9E dt 18/3/87 under Para (1) (i) granted “Basic Pay and Rank Pay -addition to Basic Pay” The rate of rank pay recommended by the pay commission was revised by the Govt twice on the intervention of the Armed Forces and from some other corner and accepted the present rate after due deliberations in the cabinet and the Indian Parliament was also taken into confidence. This was also widely publicized through the media to give an impact in the public. It cannot be now said that the grant of Rank Pay was un-intentional.

Para7,8&9. - Aggrieved by the deduction of Rank Pay from the basic pay Major AK Dhanapalan filed a petition in the High Court of Kerala. The H”ble High Court was pleased to admit the plea of Major AK Dhanapalan and directed the respondents to re-fix the pay without deducting the rank pay with re-trospect from 1/1/86. The writ appeal and the SLP filed in the Supreme Court were dismissed. Accordingly the UOI accepted the judgment and implemented the same by re- fixing the pay of Major AK Dhanapalan wef 1/1/86 and the arrears were paid. No review petition on this issue was filed by the UOI or pending before any court. As such it becomes a settled law.

Para 10,11. – The UOI has decided to NOT to extend benefit of this judgment to other similarly personnel, on the plea that benefit will be given only to the respondent of the case. Aggrieved by this decision effected officers also approached various High Courts across the country.
The UOI requested this H”ble court to get all these cases transferred to this court. Accordingly some of the cases were transferred to this H”ble Court. Since all these cases are of similar nature, one case as a pilot case has been examined by the court and after hearing both side, pronounced the judgment on 8/3/2010.

Para.12- Judgment of 5/10/98 and 4/7/2003 of the High Court of Kerala are implemented only in the case of Major AK Dhanapalan.

Para.13. Rank Pay has been paid to only Major AK Dhanapalan and this is a clear discrimination. The respondents and other similarly placed officers have not been paid the Rank Pay. This can be very much seen from Para 3 and 6 of this review petition itself.

Para 14.- Judgment of 5/10/98 is very clear on this issue. Had it been
Paid to all similarly placed officers at that point of time, the lump-sum
Amount required would have been less. The petitioners not only will fully denied justice to the similarly placed officers of the Armed Forces but also un-lawfully retained a large sum with them which otherwise due to them. The respondents were fully aware fully aware
of this fact when the y paid arrears to Major AK Dhanapalan.

Para.15.- all these prayers are liable to be dismissed with cost.



Maj AK Dhanapalan

Monday, June 7, 2010

Anomaly in Circular 430 by Cdr Pathak

From: Ravindra Pathak
Sent: 04 June 2010 16:15
To: Pr. CDA(Pension), Allahabad
Subject: Anomaly in Circular 430

Dear Sir

Kindly refer to Government of India Ministry of Defence Department of Ex Servicemen Welfare letter no PC10(1)/2009-d(Pen-Pol) dated 08 Mar 2010 regarding improvement in the pension to bridge the gap in pension of Pre 01.01.2006 and Post 01.01.2006 discharged Personnel Below Officer Rank (PBOR) of Armed Forces.
It is seen that
1. As per Table 124 (Master Warrant Officer GP "I" Discharged prior to 01.01.1996 (ii)- GP "I" Discharged between 01.01.1996 and 09.10.1997 and (iii) - GP "X" Discharged between 10.10.1997 and 31.12.2005) of the above quoted letter the pension of MWO is revised to Rs. 13590 w.e.f 01.07.2009.
2. As per Table 133(Viceroy Commission Hon Officers) of the above quoted letter the pension of Hon Lt and equivalent is revised to Rs.15465 and that of Hon Capt and Equivalent t Rs 16145 w.e.f 01.07.2009.
3. The Pension of Hon Officers who have retired between 1953 and 31.12.2005 have been not given any increase and thus they are languishing at Rs 13500 and Rs 13850 for Hon Lt and Hon Capt respectively.
It would thus be seen that Hon Lt who retired between 1953 and 31.12.2005 are drawing a pension less than that of MWO (Rs 13590) and Hon Officers who were Viceroys commission.
The above quoted letter also does not give any increment to a widow and thus they are at an handicap. The letter also does not specify as to what would be the pension of a widow whose husband drawing pension as per various table referred to in the above quoted letter dies after 01/07/2009.In the absence of any clarification it would be open to speculation that she will go back to old pension of a widow prior to issue of the above quoted letter.
You are kindly requested to clarify the matter and action being contemplated to rectify the anomaly.
Best regards
Cdr Ravindra Waman Pathak I.N.(Retd)
Member and Coordinator IESM Pension Cell

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

PENSION REGULATIONS US ARMY

From: Rakesh Prasad Chaturvedi rpchaturvedi@gmail.com
Sent: 08 April 2010 21:54
Subject: PENSION REGULATIONS US ARMY

I am trying to locate the scales of pension of US Forces (pension regulations?). More importantly the issue is-Does the pension remain constant, ie once fixed remains same throughout life OR does it get reviewed so different generations of say Colonels/ Brig or whatever, get SAME pension, independent of the year they retired. Viz does a Korean War veteran or a WW2 veteran get same pension that is drawn by an equivalent rank retiring today?
Input about other defence forces would be welcome too.

Would appreciate your assistance. ASAP. IN relation to a project I am doing with reference to OROP in India.


--
With Warm Regards,
Col RP Chaturvedi,

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Gist of the 156 orders vide circular 430 of PCDA is given below courtesy Cdr Balaji of Pension Cell.

Dear Sir

Gist of the 156 orders vide circular 430 of PCDA is given below courtesy Cdr Balaji of Pension Cell.

The orders are too complicated for a layman to comprehend.

Individuals having any questions may write to pension@iesm.org

Brgds

R W Pathak

PCDA CIRCULAR 430

Para 4.1 – Not applicable to Families of PBOR

Para 3 - GOI letter to take effect from 1.7.09 and Fixation / arrears paid in a Time Bound manner say 2-3 months.

Para 4.2 Does not apply to Hony Commissioned Officers

Para 6.1 – PDAs to revise the Pension with out calling for applications and taking down the details from the Original PPO (to ascertain which Group, etc)

Para 6.1 (i) on wards is very important – PDAs to refix Pension of all PBORs w.e.f. 1.1.996 as was fixed in 1997.

Para 6.2 – Existing Pension as on 1.1.96, pre- 10.10.2007 and post 10.10.2007 will be the same (This is as a sequel to the Supreme Court Order given recently as it is an anomaly corrected and has to be from ORIGINAL DATE and some artificial date………as per Judgement) and hence the PDAs have really work on it In my view the addl Pensionery benefits given w.e.f. 10.10.97) – all have to be re-fixed with DRs etc and that is a huge job)

Para 6.4 – Pension can be corrected if there is any discrepancy vis a vis the Tables provided.

Para 7.1 – Qualifying Service – It is shown in PPO from 1988 but for Personnel prior to that they have to produce their discharge certificate (IAFA-369)

Para 7.3 – From 9.10.1997 all those in different Trade were regrouped in X, Y & Z and this has to followed and is effective form 1.1.1996.

Para 8 – Pensioners in receipt of 2 Pensions – Both would be revised as per the Tables below.

Para 8.2 DSC Personnel – Those in receipt of Army Pension and DSC Pension – only Army Pension would be revised and for the DSC Pension to be referred to PCDA.
However, if they are receiving only DSC Pension then their Pension can be revised as per the Tables.

Para 9.1 – Where the Pensioner was alive on 1.7.2009 and died subsequent to this date then the legal heir is entitled to Life Time arrears

Para 10 – No arrears will be applicable prior to 1.7.2009

Para 11.1 Banks to render a Monthly Progress report to PCDA as per Annexure ‘C’

Para 11.3 (Verbatim) A copy of the said Annexure “C” will invariably be provided by the PDA to the Pensioners concerned for their information

NOTE: A copy of PCDA Circular and GOI, MOD letter PC10(1) 2009(D)/(Pen/Pol) dated 8.3.2010 is available on the Web Site www.pcdapension.nic.in

GOI MOD LETTER DATED 8.3.2010

Para 1.1 – All pre-1997 retirees to be brought on par with post 10.10.1997 retirees

Para 1.2 To be fixed notionally at the highest scale of Pay in which retired

Para 1.2.2 – Enhanced weightages to be continued with as per GOM decision(2006)

Para 3.1 Pension Fixation –

Highest scale of Pay in the rank retired applicable from 10.10.1997 corresponding to the fitment tables given in SAI 1/S/2008 +

Minimum of the Pay in Pay Band + 50% of MSP and GP+50% of Highest of Classification Allowance (revised rates effective from 1.9.2008)

Note; Havildars granted Hony rank of Naik Subedar to get additional Pension of Rs.226/-

Para 5.1 – Hony SLT / LT – 50% of the Minimum of Pay Band + 50% of MSP and GP RANKPAY BANDGPMSPPENSION MINIMUM OF PAY BAND + 50% OF GP+MSP
HONY SLT15600-391005400600013500

HONY LT15600-391006100600013850

Para 8 – No arrears will be paid prior to 1.7.2009.

Para 9 – No additional commutation permissible on enhganced Pension.

Para 10 – Will not affect the DCRG already paid. In other words no Additional DCRG in view of enhanced Pension Admissible.

Para 13 – PDAs to fix Pension and Pay arrears with out calling for Applications from the Pensioners.

Para 13.2 – The Pension determined in the Tables is inclusive of Weight age Factor
Cdr Ravindra Waman Pathak I.N.(Retd)
Member and Coordinator IESM Pension Cell