E circular from Federation of Retd.Class 1 Associations.

 E circular No.SKA/14   '

                                                                          9-12-2022

Reg:  1.  Slp (civil) no. 21206 of 2017 – our federation vs  LIC & Union  of India  – (up-gradation pension)

2. Pending matters with DFS

Dear Friends,

     The current week has been full of uncertainties. In the matter of hearing of our case in Supreme court, the prediction of most of the legal Pandits went off the way. Even our assumptions, including that of our Advocate on Record, went wrong. We assumed, since the date of hearing of our case has been fixed by the Bench and not the registrar, our case would be 100% heard. So we got alert. As Shri M. Arunachalam ji and Shri V K.Jain ji were not In a position to move out of their houses , I asked Sri Basudeb Das ji from Kolkata to join me at Delhi for briefing the AOR and the new Sr. counsel Sri V. Ramkrishnan ji. Let me reiterate here again that our Patron Sri G.N. Sridharan ji has helped us  a lot in getting engaged the Sr.  Counsel.  On 5.12.22 Sri Basudeb Das ji and I met our AOR Sri Rajiv Garg ji at his Chamber in Defence colony to  finalise our strategy for the case. A brief prepared by Sri Basudeb Das ji was given to Garg ji on which we had discussion with him. The copy of the Brief was immediately sent to the Sr.  counsel online. He had earlier received two more briefs prepared by Sri G N. Sridharan ji our Patron (Practicing Advocate) and Sri M. Arunachalam ji. We were told by Shri Garg ji , that all the papers concerning our case along with all the briefs received, by him , have been passed on to the Sr.  counsel engaged,  Shri V. Ramakrishnan ji.

It was decided to have a conference with the Sr.  Counsel  Sri V. Ramakrishnan on 6^th  Dec. 2022,  in his chamber in Supreme Court.  So Shri Basudeb Das ji, Shri P. P. Dhamija ji,  Vice President and I assembled at our AOR Shri  Rajiv Garg's Chamber on 6th Dec. in Supreme court, to meet the Sr. Counsel Shri V.Ramakrishnan ji in  his Chamber.  By that time it became clear that our bench would not be sitting on 7^th December 22, as one of the judges in our bench would be sitting on some other larger bench, and  hence our case cannot be heard on 7^th  Dec. 2022. The Sr. Counsel Shri Ramakrishnan ji  opined that since the case is not coming up on  7th Dec 22, it would be better if the detailed discussion is held before the next date of hearing, which may take place sometime in New year 2023 before a new bench,  as justice Shri Nazeer would be  retiring on 4th January 2023.  However, our case was listed for 9^th  December 22 at Sl. no 56. As per our lawyers’ opinion, 9th Dec.2022, being a Misc. case day,   it is unlikely that our case would be heard on that day. So we decided not to engage our Sr. Counsel for 9^th Dec., to avoid the unnecessary expenses of his additional fees, which proved to be a wise step. But in a nutshell it was  a set back to us and frustrating.

 

As we had enough time with us and to overcome the frustration,  we decided to meet the officials of DFS.  Luckily, with the help of Shri  Anjan Mukherjee,  President of Kolkata Association, we could get the appointment in the DFS within a short period.  We had a very useful discussion with the DFS officials about the issues pending at their end,  spent about half an hour with them discussing  various issues. The concerned officer told us that note, on our pending issues including Family pension,  is ready which he would present on 7^th  Dec before the Secretary Finance for his approval. Thereafter  the Secretary Finance would present the note to Finance Minister for final approval and then would be notified. The concerned officer was quite sympathetic on our issues. On enquiry on 8^th  , he told me that yesterday the Secretary went out of office on some unscheduled work, so presentation could not be done, but assured me to get it at the earliest. Our delegation to DFS included Sri P.P.Dhamija V. P., Basudeb das ji and me. Thus some progress has been made in pushing the matters forward.

 

 As already informed, the next computerized date of hearing in Supreme Court is 17.01.2023. 

Long Live Federation 

  With Greetings

 

S. K. Awasthi

General Secretary