REPORT ON OUR MEETING WITH SHRI S K ROY CHAIRMAN ON 10/12/2014

Sometime after we formed our Registered Association at Hyderabad we sought an appointment tomeet the Chairman at Mumbai. . PS to Chairman called me immediately then to inform that the Chairman will be pleased to meet us but suggested that it can be at Hyderabad during his next visit to the city, for our convenience.  

Accordingly we met the Chairman from 12.45 PM to 1.30 PM on 10.12.2014 in the ZTC premises
Hyderabad. Four of us viz., ShriV.Krishnan, Shri C H Mahadevan ,Shri Y V SubbaRao and myself attended.

Chairman was warm, informal, and friendly and responded to all the points listed by us in the Note placed before him. We also handed over a brief memorandum (Attached) covering various pressing issues concerning LIC Pensioners as a class. The highlights of the discussion and the Chairman’s responses were as follows:

1 .Pension related issues. Chairman said he looks at this more as a humanitarian issue than legal

2. To  our query on what according to him is the way out from the present impasse, Chairman went in to some detail and explained LIC’s efforts with the Government (some time ago) to permit DR anomaly removal (there was no hint of 11.25% weightage) etc.,. We asked him why it was not done? The fairly long discussion ended up noting the fact that the matters are now in Supreme Court and so any finality is possible only when SC decides the appeals.We explained to Chairman that the method contemplated by the Corporation to keep the revised pension as at 1/8/1997 static without following the principle of merger on the subsequent wage revision dates of 1/8/2002 and 1/8/2007 for them will still leave anomalies to persist giving rise to potential spate of litigations.

3.   At this stage we informed Chairman that the Pensioners are making all out efforts to secure early hearing by the Supreme Court and asked him ‘when we make the plea before the Bench will LIC support or oppose?’ Chairman promptly said ‘why would LIC oppose? We support such a prayer as it is in the interests of all that the appeals are heard and decided at the earliest.

4.   On the question of Pension revision coinciding with each wage revision, Chairman said

it is for the Government to take a policy decision and in his view Govt is concerned with the ripple effect and the possible demands for similar relief in Banking Sector. When we asked him why he was batting for IBA instead of fighting for his own Pensioners, he hastened to say that he was not batting for IBA but was only referring to the likely stand of the Government.

5.   We asked the Chairman what is holding LIC from implementing the judgement in MC Jain case. Chairman said although MC Jain’s case was filed by one individual LIC intends to give the relief to all those who are similarly placed and hence it is taking time.

6. The memorandum submitted by us covered the following additional points.

 

1. Group MediClaim - Extending total Cashless - Hospitalization & Treatment
facility, already prevalent elsewhere

2. Issuance of ID Cards to all pensioners covered by the Mediclaim Scheme,
without any further delay.

3. One more option to join Group Mediclaim Scheme for retirees who could not
opt earlier.

4. Revision of Family Pension on the pattern of RBI revision.

To the above requests Chairman said he has no latest information with him but will have them examined and decided at the earliest.

Formal periodical interface with Pensioners’ Associations at C O & ZO levels.

He said pensioners can meet him any time.

CONCLUSION: Chairman thinks Rajasthan Judgement is wrong because it directed LIC to do what it cannot do under law.

 (M SreenivasaMurty)