SRI GNS CONFERRED THE HONOUR OF 'PATRON'....THE GC MEETING ON 8TH DEC.2019 DECIDES.

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 DK/1 – 2019-21                              10-12-2019

Friends,  

Reg: The 10th Biennial General Council Meeting of the Federation

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 DK/1 – 2019-21                              10-12-2019

 

Friends,  

Reg: The 10th Biennial General Council Meeting of the Federation

Most of you , receiving this Report of the proceedings of the General Council Meeting at Kolkata, would have been personal witnesses to the  Meeting, as Delegates. Even so , to the others who were not in our midst, we owe it to them, to inform them , as to how it all went through. Also, such a Report, constitutes an official Record, for matters transacted and Decided, in the General Council Meeting.

PREFACE

Though the General Council Meeting itself was only for one day on the 8th of Dec 2019, at Kolkata, there was, this time, a  positive deviation from the GCs of the last few years, in that a very short and formal meeting of the Executive Committee members,  was also held, on the evening of 7th of Dec, so that , the Report of the General Secretary and the Accounts of  the Treasurer , would be first accepted by the EC, and then placed before the highest body of the Federation viz., the General Body of members , the next day, as the Report and Accounts statement of the Executive Committee.

Since the Report of Activities of the two years was first discussed in the EC meeting on the 7th , it could be placed before the general members for their observations, with speakers representing every Association under the Federation, making their own observations on the Report.  Since the EC members had passed it the previous day, and it now was their Report, the speakers, for the most part, were only general members other than the Office Bearers and the EC members. The Time factor was under check, and the Agenda for the GC meeting moved on Time-lines expected.

THE G C MEETING

The General Council Meeting on the 8th of Dec. 2019, was presided over by Sri Prem Dhamija, Vice President from Delhi, in the absence, for Health reasons, of the President Sri N P Bali. The President of the Kolkata Association, and the Chairman of the Reception Co., Sri T Chatopadhyaya, first, welcomed the delegates in attendance, and pointed to the importance of this Meeting in terms of the stakes that were there, for the Retired community of Officers of LIC, in the Court case on SLP, and also the other matters in discussion with the LIC Management. Sri Dhamija, President for the day, in his Presidential Address, made out the significance of the issues at hand for this Meeting.  The veteran Leader, Sri G N Sridharan , then Launched the Compendium of the Reports and Accounts of all the past GC and EC meetings, over the period of  20 years (the current GC meeting included) since inception of the Federation in the year 2000, which he had himself put together, to serve as a Record for Archives of the Federation. The first copy of the Compendium was formally received by Sri Ajoy Kumar Sengupta, a veteran of the same vintage as Sri G N Sridharan. Sri Ajoy Kumar Sengupta, the founding member of the Kolkata Association, then reminisced on the days past, where he had worked in tandem with the veterans Sri Arabinda Ghose and Sri G N Sridharan.

MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT

The General Secretary, before taking up the Report for the 2 year period, read out a Message from the President Sri Bali, wherein he requested the delegates to move towards consensus on important issues so that the Federation could move in a focused manner, to work for their achievement.

GENERAL SECRETARY'S REPORT

The Report presentation then followed, highlighting the important areas the Report covered, viz., Expansion in Units, Expansion in membership in existing Units, Unity move between Associations of the Retired, the 1992-93 Retirees' matter in Kerala HC, Talks with LIC management, Off-line attempts on Pension Revision, improvement in Family Pension, and periodical rise in pension for the super-seniors of age 80 and over, and the change in methodology of Communications. While on Communications , a copy of printed book of all 92 Circulars issued in the 2 year period, was formally presented to Sri G N Sridharan, the veteran Leader, whose name was proposed for being elevated formally as PATRON of the Federation.

MEMBERS' RESPONSE

While generally approving the Report, the points  made out by the delegates broadly, were on the lines indicated here:

   1. Expansion in the number of Units and enlistment  of newly Retiring members, should be done in a methodical manner, by obtaining lists of Retirees from the Zonal or Divisional Offices as the case  may be; As for numbers of new Units, there was an interesting suggestion to all settled Associations, that 'Each one Bring One' principle, should be adopted. Later on, as part of Resolutions proposed and adopted, one Suitable Senior member, could be assigned as 'Coordinator' for taking initiative for bringing in more Units into the Federation fold.

    2.  While generally welcoming the Federation's initiative for forging a unified front of all the other Petitioner Associations, in trying to make the thrust in the SC more effective, it was also suggested that , since Courts generally went by violations in Rules, Law or Constitution, and were more concerned with administering Law, than necessarily Justice,  our  offline-efforts  through contacts  at Political and Bureaucratic levels were to be continued with greater vigour.

     3. A number of delegates spoke of the difficulties faced by members, and family, for getting proper reimbursement of Claims on the Health Insurance Scheme we now have. A consolidated list of problems to be made out and Discussion at the CO level( if possible with the presence of the Insurer as well) to be organized at the earliest. One moot aspect in the scheme, relating to passing on the  membership in the Insurance Scheme, to the surviving partner, was also suggested to be taken up, with the CO.

    4.  Our SLPs coming up for Hearing on the 5th of Feb 2020, and our approach to it, were discussed. The delay, from the last Hearing on 26th Nov 2018, to the current date offered, of 26th Nov 2019, and how since clear advance information was not there, all the parties concerned were only thinking of an Adjournment, was explained.  The interim waiting period of one year, it was explained, was in our overall interest, as the Bank Negotiations are moving towards a finality now, and since generally our improvement structure, is traditionally linked to the Banks Revision parameters,  the result of the Banks' struggle, would  enable us to steer our future course of action on more appropriate lines.

 

TREASURER PRESENTS ACCOUNTS

Sri Dalal, Treasurer presented the Accounts, not only of the year 2018-19 but also for the earlier period covering 2017-18, which generally gets missed out as far as the General Council is concerned. There were discussions regarding Tax payments out of our interest earnings, which in normal course could be got refunded,  provided we have a PAN number and Card. There was problem about getting a PAN no allotted, as we were not a Registered entity. Sri Dalal did mention that this difficulty seemed particular to Mumbai, whereas at other centres like Bengaluru and Delhi, similar difficulties had not been experienced.

The continuing picture of Expenses of Federation exceeding income from annual subscriptions was also discussed. Suggestions were made to merge the Legal Fund collections with the general Account of the Federation. The Treasurer's own view was that once the purpose of collection, viz., the Court Case was over, this measure could be thought of. There were suggestions that the annual subscriptions from member units could be increased by raising the per member rate from the present Rs25 to 50. That would only pass on the shortage, to the member Associations, as they were also not having any regular sources of income.

RESOLUTIONS

It was then the turn to move 'Resolutions' which had been received. There were 3 Resolutions sent in by Sri G N Sridharan , and two from Bengaluru, apart from one Official Resolution moved by the Federation itself. The first one was regarding an Appeal to the Hyderabad Association, which had broken away from the Federation, years ago, to return to our fold. The second one was by way of certain directions to the General Secretary, in making focused efforts in the same direction, These were clubbed into one Resolution and adopted after discussions.

The third one was on bringing about greater control over the time factor in conducting the Gen Council meeting within the time limit of one day, by proposing Guidelines for the Elections, to the Federation leadership team, which otherwise tended to eat into the Discussion- time of important matters on the Agenda.

 While discussing this, there was a suggestion, to also add numbers, to the full Benches now, of Joint Secretaries by 3 more, bringing the total numbers to 8 from the present 5, and raising the numbers of Executive Committee members from the present 15 to 17. These measures would balance the picture of appropriate representation, and also acknowledge good work now being done in certain quarters. This Resolution would involve, also, making suitable Amendments to the Bye-Laws of the Federation. The General Council Approved this Resolution after discussions, with the approval too, for the consequent Amendment to the Bye-laws.

The Fourth Resolution concerned efforts to be made to bring about parity with the Central Govt Retirees in the matter of the increased maximum Gratuity amount of 20 lakhs , by giving retrospective effect to the change from 2016 as against only  2018 , as it now obtained. This Resolution too was passed by the Gen. Council.

The fifth Resolution was regarding appropriate representation, area-wise, in the Federation's structure of elected representatives, and also placing the interim year's Accounts before the General Council Meeting. Since these were already taken care of  , this one, was just taken on record, as moved.

The 6th Resolution was regarding three Special Positions,(to be Designated as 'Co-ordinators') based on functionality, at level equivalent to say, Vice President, in the current structure, being created, to take care of:

1.  Expansion activity which was very critical to the future of the Federation;

2.  Legal Activities relating to SC and HC at Delhi;

3.  For Liaison with LIC , on matters raised with them, at Mumbai.

While approving this Resolution, the General council also approved that the 'Co-ordinator ' designated persons, could be chosen by the President and General Secretary, later,  based on special interests or  Experience or Talents, after scouting for the right persons. However, for the Legal 'Co-Ordinator' Position at Delhi, the recognition should be given to Sri V K Jain, who was already doing this work. As for the first 'Co-ordinator' position on Expansions , Sri O P Vasisht, who was eminently suited for this activity, though not present in the Meeting, and in bed after an accident, could be the right person, as and when he is fit again. Meanwhile Capt. K C Mehrothra of Kanpur, graciously, volunteered to do his bit, in this role, on his own.

These  Special positions were not permanent additions, but only till such time these areas of activity needed such thrust from special sources, and where their functions needed expenses to be incurred , these would become the responsibility of the Federation to take care of .

ADIEU RAJAGOPALAN - SHALL WE FIND ONE LIKE YOU AGAIN ..?

 The General Council also passed a Resolution condoling the passing away Of Sri R Rajagopalan of Bengaluru in the month of September, whose immense contributions to the financial and intellectual capital of the Federation cannot be measured.

HATS OFF KOLKATA .... WHAT A SHOW .....!

The General Council also passed a Resolution appreciating the tremendous efforts of the Kolkata Association in conducting the General Council meeting in a memorable way, both in terms of the stay and food arrangements.

ELECTIONS

 The Last item on the Agenda was Elections to the posts of President, General Secretary, Vice Presidents , Joint Secretaries, and Executive Committee members..

On the discussions towards finalizing the list of elected representatives, there was a point made by sri Dalal, Treasurer, saying ,all the leaders at Mumbai now, were quite worn down, with age-related issues, including himself, and that the Federation should give relief to these aged leaders by appointing newer members in their position. Since Mumbai was our biggest Centre and since these leaders were now taking care of very important areas of functions of the Federation, it was suggested that we could think of changes , if still needed then, with a time notice of one year from now.

 After discussions, a consensus  was arrived at and the Elections, to positions , on the expanded numbers, approved earlier by the GC, was announced by the Presiding Officer Sri Tapas Chattopadhyaya.

 

SRI GNS CONFERRED THE HONOUR OF 'PATRON'

 The List announced, included the Special Decoration of  'PATRON' conferred  by this General Council, on the stalwart leader Sri G N Sridharan, , in honour of all the seminal contributions made by him in the birth and growth of this Federation of the Retired LIC Officers.

The Gen Council approved the suggestion to appoint Sri P S  Seshadri of Mumbai, as the honorary Auditor for the Federation. In the unlikely event of his non-availability, Sri R B L Vaish could be drafted in as the Auditor.

The two prominent features of the 10h General council are a) the active participation of two lady delegates from Mumbai, and one from Kolkata, paving the way for more of them in the future sessions, and b)  one third of the delegates were   new faces,  giving  the Federation a confidence that there will not be any dearth of hands in carrying forward the activities in future.

The Meeting came to a close with Sri V R Krishnan, newly elected Joint Secretary from Chennai, proposing a Vote of Thanks.

 The list of Elected Members is attached.

Chennai