Do not Cross your line, GNS appeals to Associations of Class 1 Officers.

 GNS writes.

I was following with keen interest the posts in the blogs relating to the reported latest move of the Federation of LIC class1 officers' Associations to enlist retired class1  officers as Life members of their organization. I had initially thought of refraining from expressing my views on the same.  However, as one who was deeply involved in both the federations of Serving and Retired class1 officers for long spells(18 yrs & 10 yrs respectively )i am tempted to react on the said move.(Let me hereafter refer to the said two organisations as Fedn-S & Fedn-R respectively  in this note for the sake of brevity)

As human memory is short it is necessary for me to trace a bit of history.The Fedn-s in LIC  in its present form came into being  in the latter half of 1964 thanks to the pioneering and dynamic efforts of Shri Ashok Kaji who was supported wholeheartedly by activists at Mumbai , Delhi, Madras & Calcutta .At one or two of these centres independent associations were functioning who got immediately affiliated and gradually the movement started catching up at other places.I had the the privilege of being the jt.secretary ( south zone ) almost since inception and possibly today I am one of the very few persons available to vouch for anything about the past in regard to the old days of Fedn-s.(It's another matter that the present leadership of the Fedn-S celebrated Diamond jubilee in 2018 itself instead of waiting till 2024 on the assumed justification that officers organisations were functioning prior to 1964 at some places.I am clarifying this to avoid any confusion in the minds of old-timers.)The need for an exclusive organisation for class1 employees was taken note of in the context of the fact that as in the case of Banks,unlike other classes , officers were having no protection under the Industrial laws and hence they were at the receiving end for bad treatment and left to fend for themselves.

As regards Fedn-R ,the same was launched at Delhi on 

2/5/2000 at a meeting attended besides myself from Chennai by m/s SK Mukherjee,KK Nair,VK Jain , Amritlal (Delhi) VN Kelkar (Mumbai) ArabindaGhosh (Kolkata ) and others.The bye-laws of this body was adopted at a meeting held at Kolkata in March 2021.The need for having a separate organisation for Retired class 1 officers was discussed thread bare at the meeting particularly the point that Fedn-s was already in existence to serve as a good source for membership.

Unfortunately what was envisaged did not happen subsequently or even earlier because there were other Associations sponsored by others and many a  class 1 retiree had already enrolled themselves in them at several places particularly at non-metros in the country.No one in the leadership of Fedn-R including myself liked to change the situation at several centers. The the result has been till this day is that Fedn-R has had very little geographical expansion in it's existence.

The common feature in both the cases is that they do not specifically prohibit dual membership of different organisatons with the same ideals and objectives.

The above narratives will show that I had the opportunity of knowing firsthand on what were the basic   objectives  of the two exclusive organisations of class 1 officers in service or retirement.I categorically state that the byelaws as originally adopted laid down that the membership of the Fedn-S shall be available only to those who were SERVING as class1 though direct membership at apex level  is allowed to facilitate induction of outsiders who can be of help in the causes of officers.I do not know if the relevant clause has since been amended. Moreover it should be appreciated that after the introduction of the pension scheme the retired officers' constitute a homogeneous group under the law emanating from among class1 employees of the corporation.To treat them as a pure and simple retiree - whatever be the motive,-does not seem to be fair!!  The fact that with assured wage revision every five years with index-linked DA having come to stay the task of Fedn-s has become easier to cater to the needs of their members in service.

I am for once in full agreement with the volley of questions posed by Shri CH Mahadevan to the present the leadership of Fedn-s.viz Can you make public the agenda if any you have in mind for helping the class 1 retirees who join your fold to secure the much-needed Updation of their pension?

I appeal to the leadership of the Fedn-s to withdraw the proposal in the interests of peaceful co-existence of all organisations of all classes of employees of LIC in service or retirement.

With greetings to all and awaiting response from all concerned,- 

GN Sridharan