SNOOZE MODE......THERE IS NOTHING CONCRETE....DK/60 CIRCULAR .

FEDERATION OF RETIRED LIC CLASS I OFFICERS' ASSOCIATIONS

President :    N.P. Bali 705, Sur, Veena Saaz, Thakur Complex, Kandivali (East), Mumbai - 400 101 Mob : 9820324213 Email Id - npbali@hotmail.com

General Secretary :    D Krishnan No.6/1, Sreshta Riverside Apartments, Wood Creek Road, Nandambakkam, Chennai - 600089 Tel : 9176635967 / 044 42850049. Email Id - dkrishnan1@gmail.com

E circular No.DK/60                                                                              7-04-2019

Our Court matters are still in the snooze mode and there is nothing concrete to report. However, there has been a circular issued by the LIC Central Office raising the adhoc Monthly cash  Benefit  from 1000/- to 2000/-  for those Retirees  of prior  1986! This would also be effective for those surviving Family Pensioners, for whom the Benefit would be 50% of the raise announced. The short Circular of CO is reproduced here for your knowledge:  

Meanwhile I have addressed a letter to our new Chairman of LIC, Sri M R Kumar, pointing out to areas where Decisions could be taken by him without a reference to any higher Authority. Top most amongst these is the case of the 92-93 Retirees, where he could directly apply the logic of the M C Jain case where the Supreme Court had decided in favour of Sri M C Jain. Following my letter to the Chairman, Sri C H Mahadevan of the Hyderabad Association, has also sent in his letter to the Chairman pleading on the similar lines,  and enclosing a full List of 322 Retirees, of the 92-93 category.

The other points touched upon in my letter relate to,

1. paying Pension duly on the 1st of the month, without any date extension, due to the 1st being a Holiday of any sort, and

2. The aspects of Monthly  Cash Allowance towards Domiciliary Treatment expenses, and

3. Re-imbursement for Yearly Full Medical Check-up for the Retiree Officers.

 I have also written to him about our pending Case in SC for Pension Revision, reminding him about LIC's own initiatives of 2001 recommending Revision of Pension to the Ministry of Finance. I have pointed out that the principle of Revision of Pension has been accepted already by the Finance Ministry, which is clearly borne out by the Circular issued recently in the case of the RBI Retirees.

I have also referred in positive terms, in the letter, to the initiatives being now taken by the LIC CO regarding increasing the percentage of Family Pension from 15% to 30%, and the move to give the stage increases of Pension, as in the case of Central Govt. retirees, for those in the age band of 80 and over in the LIC. I have also mentioned that we have been raising some of these matters directly with the Central Govt. too.

While there has been a lot of bustle about Pension Revision in recent times, though the concept was being consistently denied by establishments, for a  long time, the  granting of such Revision in Pension for the RBI retirees, by the Central Govt. recently, was the high/turning point  of it all. Now to add to the picture comes information,  that the Allahabad Bank Retirees Welfare Society, has directly gone to the Supreme Court  on 15-03-2019, under Article -32 of the Constitution, with Prayer to direct Union of India to sanction Updating Pension and improvement in Family Pension.

 Giving reasons as to why direct to SC,  they have said, their membership consists of members from all over India, and they cannot go to different HCs, and that being of old age, the petitioners cannot afford the time spent, and the cost, in the litigation, before different forums. They also state that the issue involved in the present case is a direct violation of the Fundamental Rights of Pensioners as Guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution of India., which is amenable  to the writ jurisdiction of the SC under Article 32 of the Constitution. We will watch with interest how this matter moves up. That's it for now,

" As we close, here are two bits of information that might add to the flavour of the season:

1) The recent Madras Judgement in ONGC Pension case involving a  'cut-off' date states as: "every humble citizen becomes vulnerable and  exposed to harsh realities of life. Life always revolves around hope and for pensioners adequate pension is the only hope left in their remaining part of life. Without that hope, the final phase of  existence becomes too mundane. Therefore, the right to receive   adequate pension is implicit within the framework of the Constitution, particularly in terms of Article 21 of the Constitution of India,”     

 We will find out whether the order gives us any clue in the context of pending cases.

2) Sources indicate that the notification for one more pension option  (OMPO) will come out in a few days, certain formalities having been  completed.

With Greetings and Best Wishes to all

D.Krishnan

General Secretary

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