"LIC PENSIONERS A BLESSED LOT"

Dear Mr Gangadharan,
Referring to the post  with the above caption of Adv. Mr N Pradeep Kumar, I attach a material culled out from a bankers' website , from which it can be easily understood how RBI Pensioners are better off than LIC and PSB  pensioners in the following respects:
1.Minimum Pension Rs 3500/-
2.Full pension  when the period of service exceeds 20 years.
3.Increase in family pension  to 30% of last drawn pay
4.Pension at 50% of last 10 months' average emoluments  or 50%  last
drawn pay whichever is higher.

Mr NPK  may find LIC Pension Rules 1995 a better one than PSBs & RBI's Rules.But the benefits implemented for LIC and PSBs are far short of those presently enjoyed by RBI Pensioners.

But our case managers may take a cue from Mr NPK's post and  should make good use of the Residuary Provisions in LIC Pension Rules 1995, besides other strong points  to win the cases in the Supreme Court.Actually the Residuary Provisions are  already being implemented in respect of Chairman & Managing Directors of LIC(who are whole time officers of the Corporation governed by LIC Pension Rules 1995) as will be seen from the attached note entitled 'Pensionary Status of LIC Chairman & MDs'
Greetings.
C H Mahadevn

1.

12/11/2014

C H MAHADEVAN

PENSIONARY STATUS OF LIC CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTORS

As per the information secured by Mr C S Murty from the Department of Financial Services (MoF) and LIC of India by invoking RTI Act 2005, the following facts emerge:

•

Chairman and Managing Director of LIC of India are appointed by the Central Government by exercising the powers conferred by Sec 4 and Sec 20 of LIC of India Act 1956 respectively. Chairman is appointed in the pay scale of Secretary and Managing Director in the pay scale of Additional Secretary.

•

Their salaries/emoluments/allowances are borne by LIC and are not reimbursed by the Ministry.

•

All Terminal dues (retirement benefits and pension) of Chairman and Managing Director are settled by LIC.

•

"The Pensionary benefits to Chairman & Managing Director of the Corporation are governed by Rule 55B of LIC of India(Employees)Pension Rules 1995 as amended on 13/8/2001 and  the same  reads as under:

RULE 55B

Pensionary benefits to employees mentioned in proviso to sub-rule (j) of Rule 2 and employees appointed as Managing Director under Section 20 of the Act (LIC Act 1956) and who were in service on or after 1st January 1996;

Notwithstanding anything  contained  in these rules, in respect  of an employee appointed as Managing Director under Section 20 of the LIC  of India Act 1956, and in respect of an employee covered by  proviso to sub-rule(j) of Rule 2,who were in service on and after 1st January 1996, the pensionary benefits shall be calculated  in accordance with  the provisions contained  in the Central Civil Services(Pension)Rules 1972 and the Central Civil Services( Commutation  of Pension)Rules, 1981, as applicable  to Central Government   servants and in accordance  with the instructions issued  by the Central Government  thereunder from time to time;

Provided that where such  an employee who has retired  on or after 1.1.1996 and before the  date of publication of  these rules in the Official Gazette  or the family of such employee in the event of death of such employee, gives a notice in writing within 90 days  of the publication of  these rules, expressing an option not to be governed by  the provisions  of this rule, then , the provisions of the above paragraph shall not apply  in respect of such employee or the family of such employee as the case may be. Option once exercised  under this proviso  shall be final".

•

As per the  Central Government  Notification  dated 3/7/1996, the Chairman of LIC  is  deemed to be  an employee  of the Corporation for the purpose of L I C of India(Employees)Pension Rules,1995( vide Rule 2(j))

My comments

•

Considering all the above facts, Chairman      andManaging Directors, although appointed by the CentralGovernment, are whole time employees of theCorporation within the meaning of the LIC of India (Employees') Pension, Rules, 1995.

•

The question then arises as to how they can be governed by a set of pension rules different from that of otheremployees governed by the same pension rules of theCorporation. The observations of the Supreme Court inthe D S Nakra case become very significant, viz., therecannot be two different classes of pensioners under thesame pension scheme.

•

The pensions of  retired Chairmen and Managing Directors of LIC are paid from the Fund constituted by the Corporation as required under Chapter III of the LIC of India (Employees') Pension, Rules, 1995.Paying  rates of pension to them different from  and more advantageous than those applicable  to retired employees of the lower cadres  covered by these Rules  constitutes discrimination  as brought  out in theD.S.Nakra  case judgment by the Supreme Court.

•

Thus having different Pensionary benefits for LIC Chairman and Managing Directors on the one hand and for other cadres of employees on the other is clearly discriminatory and arbitrary and violates Articles 14 ( re:Equality before law) and 16(re:Equality of opportunity in employment etc) of the IndianConstitution.

•

Therefore the only way in which this discrimination canbe removed is to follow the Rules applied for the Chairman & Managing Directors  retired  on and after1st January 1996 onwards uniformly for all retired andretiring employees by giving similar options without discrimination.