Executive Director (Personnel),
LIC of India,
Central Office,
Mumbai
Madam,
Implementation of the Wage Revision decisions as per Gazette Notification dated 18/7/1996 effective from 1/8/1992
In the wage revision Notification which is attached, It has been stated under item 2 as follows:
"Provided that no arrears for the period from the 1st day of August 1992 to 31st day of March 1993 shall be payable to the Officer."
This means that the scales of pay for Class I Officers are effective from 1/8/1992 for all purposes of benefits related to the basic pay except that no arrears are payable to the officer for the period from 1/8/1992 to 31/3/1993.
For example, if the increment of any officer fell due on 1st August 1992 or any subsequent month upto 31/3/1993,the next annual normal grade increment should fall due exactly 12 months after that date even though LIC would have paid the revised salary only from April 1993.It is not known whether grant of increments has been done accordingly for all concerned officers on revised basis.. Kindly confirm that this was done.
Secondly, for Class I Officers retired between 1/8/1992 and 31/3/1993 ,even though arrears were not payable upto the date of their retirements, they should have been notionally placed on the revised Basic Pay from 1/8/1992 and their Basic Pension should have been calculated accordingly payable from 1/11/1993.This should have been done for about 325 retired officers, but it has not been done .Only Mr M C Jain who had filed a Writ Petition in the Jaipur Bench of the Rajasthan High Court had been paid some benefits as a result of the judgment of the Jaipur Bench which was upheld by the dismissal of SLP of LIC in the Supreme Court in July 2014.But none of the other retired Class I Officers similarly placed was paid the entitled benefits.
There is a difference between stating that no arrears are payable from 1/8/992 to 31/3/1993 and saying that wage revisions for officers are effective from 1/4/1993.Wage revision for Class I Officers is effective from 1/8/1992 sans arrears upto 31/3/1993 as per the attached Gazette Notification. On that logic all the officers similarly placed as Mr M C Jain who had retired between 1/8/1992 and 31/3/1993 should have been also paid the benefits by fixing their Basic Pension as at 1st November 1993 by taking the revised basic salary as per the scales notified on 18/7/1996.There is no need to look at the matter from a legal angle, but there is only a need to interpret the wordings in the Notification in a logical and common sense manner in letter and spirit.
Incidentally while making payment of arrears, interest will need to be paid on the difference in commuted value of pension at a rate factored in the Commutation Tables less the interest on the difference in monthly instalments reduced for the same from the gross full basic pension. If interest is not paid on the difference in commuted pension, these retired officers will lose financially as, due to delayed payment, the retired officers have lost heavily not only on arrears of pension, but also by way of interest in the event of delayed payment of difference in commuted value of pension.
As per the list sent by me quite sometime ago to Chairman, there are about 325 retired officers of the period from 1/8/1992 to 31/3/1993.All of them are octogenarians many of whom have left for their heavenly abodes. The youngest among the survivors will be 85 years old as of now and this is a vulnerable group with a high potential mortality.
I therefore request you to adopt a humanitarian approach to help this category of pensioners (including family pensioners and l/or legal heirs) for their obtaining their legitimate dues from the Corporation.
Thanking you,
C H Mahadevan
Executive Director (Retd)(LIC)
Chennai
Mob: 9849314013
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