THANK YOU ALL

Respected leaders,

   Salute to all of you who have fought for our twin demands of 100% DR neutralization and upward revision of pension almost for the past two decades. Each leader is unquestionably eligible to claim ' Fathership ' of the trying episode. Each one has contributed his mite in his own way for bringing the said issues to this much appreciable stage. There is not even an iota of doubt in securing favourable judgement within a couple of weeks.

   We  bow before our Champion Warrior Sri. K.M.L.Asthana who is instrumental for this legal fight.His unfettered efforts have been the cause for ever-so-many successes in the High Courts and the Apex Court. We equally thank leaders like ( Late ) M.L.Gandhi and Sri. S.N.Chhabra for their tireless efforts in extending their deep support & cooperation to Sri.Asthana in shaping the battle. Sri. G.N.Sridharan, GS of Federation of Retd Class-I Officers, handled 100% DR neutralization initially and then both the demands a bit later. Naturally his entry has provided some additional strength in our war-path. 

In the height of the above, the all-out prestigious, support rendered by our tall leader Sri. R.B.Kishore, Vice-President of AIRIEF, all these years, right from wee hours in the morning till late night burning mid-night oil lamps, through voluminous e-mail messages with full of vital documentary evidences. There is none equal to him. 

The valuable services put up by M/S M.P.Agnihotri, Pramod Bhatnagarji
deserve our hearty congratulations. But for this their affidavits and other supporting petitions could not have reached to this adornment stage.It is note worthy to record that they maintained fine rapport with our Sr.Counsel Sri.Nidesh Gupta

AIRIEF is immensely pleased to place on record our fullest satisfaction over the brilliant way our cases are handled at Supreme Court and Delhi High Court by our Sr. Counsels Sri. R.K.Singh and Sri. Nidesh Gupta to the envy of our opponents. While we appreciate the tireless efforts of Sri. R.K.Singh without any let up from the beginning till recently, we admire to see the veteran Sr.Counsel Sri.Nidesh Gupta arguing fluently under the influence of an admirable atmosphere which the court enjoyed the law-filled air. The legal points put forth are apt, specific and to the point. His lucid language carried the required message which must have baffled the opposing groups. Once again I wish to thank them on your behalf for being the main cause for the impending success.

   Naturally, to conduct the business of the organisation ' AIRIEF ' and the court cases, there needs a competent ' Ring Master '. AIRIEF is fortunate to have such an able personality in the form of Sri. S.S.Saxena. Through his masterly and timely guidance, he kept both the organisation and the legal battle in alert and trimmed position.

   We can not forget the valuable assistance extended voluntarily by Sri. C.H.Mahadevan, being an eminent statistician,in totally dismissing the bogus figures of LIC management with his actual ones. What a fine and hard working gentleman he is for the welfare of the fellow-pensioners. We have to mention about a silent worker in our midst. He is ever vigilant on statistical figures. He is none other than our senior member Sri. T.R.Madhava Rao.
He has minimized his active participation due to age; but still continues his contacts with Sri. RBK over phone. His earlier association with his neighbour (late) C.R.Sankaran is well remembered even today. Both used to discuss about our court cases.
T.R.Madhava RAO used to exchange views with both Sri. Asthana and Sri. CHM till recently. He is a fire-brand indeed.
To get the court apprised of the vast discrimination of pension paid to the pensioners based on the dates of their retirement sufficient charts were prepared by M /S CHM and R.K.Sahni, periodically as desired by Sri. R.B.Kishore. These charts helped the court to assess the pathetic situations in which the senior and super-senior pensioners are pushed into.

None can forget the all round support given by Sri. R.K.Sahni. He kept all our members informed of the day-today-developments of our court cases, observations of the leaders of all the pensioner-organisations, without any bias, through his Pensioners Voice Blog. He has been a bridge to get the needed details exchanged between leaders.
I cannot but recall my acquaintance with our Ex-Secretary, AIRIEF, (Late) V.C. Jain ,I still remember his thrilling and motivating circulars. I am thankful to our EX President  Sri. S.K.Shukla.Both have  maintained fund flow to our case  at Jaipur .My great wish is that this team spirit should exist to get all our future demands settled amicably.

My last prayer to the case managers :-

   1. Our written statements to be submitted to DHC in the days to come should be a vivid and clear-cut one. There should not be any ambiguity.

   2. Updation of pension should be applied from the date of retirement or from the date of commencement of the Pension Scheme, whichever is later;

      Fitment at stage to stage as is being applied to existing employees on wage revision

   3. 100% DR neutralisation to pre-August 1997 pensioners only on the basis of revised pension.

   4. Application of cut-off date should totally be scrapped.

   5. The order should apply to all cadres of pensioners

   6. Arrears should be paid within a stipulated time frame

   7. Interest for belated payment @ govt permissible ratio

   etc, etc. 

With affection and gratitude to one and all,

B.Angurajan  
President ,RIEA
Madurai     
B.ANGURAJAN