Lockdown Musings! (PART II) BY Shri G N Sridharan

Lockdown Musings! 

Part II

2) Faulty fixation of pension.:  This has been a very sensitive issue though affecting only a group of pensioners retiring during the  period between the expiry of an existing wage revision and the date of implementation of  the next wage revision. A Typical example in our case is  what is known as MC Jain's case. Even after the Supreme court had upheld the judgement of the Rajasthan HC in favour of Mr. Jain, the LIC management ,obviously under Finance ministry's dictat , has been refusing to extend the court relied granted to shri.MC jain to all similarly placed retirees. The result of this is we are compelled to get endlessly involved in pursuing the cases initiated in the Kerala HC seeking similar relief for all in that category
                            A similar situation had arisen for the pensioners in the banking sector also, particularly the retires of Bank of Baroda,though under some slightly different circumstances. .The concerned litigaition ( G Palani & others vs BOB/ Goi) also reached the supreme court which after taking its own time was pleased to grant the relief  prayed for by the pensioners by its order dt.13/2/2018 in CA no.5525/2012. A notable point about this judgement is that it clearly directed the Bank to implement the decision to all similarly placed pensioners .The bank has since implemented it.
                          Since this issue of faulty pension fixation affects a small segment and since in our ( LIC) case the issue is sub justice there seems to be no alternative but wait for end of litigation whatever time it takes.
 
3) court verdicts - Faulty or non implementation:
Out of sheer necessity and with no other way to go we have knocked at the doors of judiciary on important issues discussed herein putting up with enormous delay and considerable cost. We do succeed at times but at  the Institutional level (at the hands of our own organisations) the benefits flowing from court orders get diluted. We have experienced  such a s situation.. A standing example is the manner in which the Delhi HC judgment on DR anamoly was implemented.I am aware the situation is the same in Banking sector also. Another disgusting fact is that when a positive verdict is secured by an individual or an association the managements do not take the initiative to extend the same benefits to other similarly placed pensioners.while this has happened to us in MC jain matter, I came across recently a strong communication addressed by a crusader for the causes of SBI pensioners( shri PP Upadhyaya) to the chairman of SBI making out a case for removal of pension anamolies by applying the spirit of the SC judgment in the BOB case referred to above for the affected pensioners of SBI also.
                                In my view this malady cannot be eradicated so long as the mindset of the those in top management is influenced by their own personal ambitions instead of being guided by  convictions of fair play. To bring about a change the only possible course will be to enlist support of powerful politicians for doing which most of our representative associations appear to be reluctant. As a result an average pensioner is made to believe that only judiciary can deliver what we want.

4) Periodical up gradation of Pension.
The justification for this demand needs hardly any over emphasis. If  pension is not a bounty but is only a deferred wage, there is no reason why there should be no rise in it in sync with the periodical wage revision for the in-srevice work force.Unfortunately the holy principles enunciated by the SC some 37 years back (1983) in Nakara's case stands evaporated to day. It is gratifying that we,LIC pensioners, have taken up this issue while it is surprising that no representative organisation of Bank pensioners seems to have approached the judiciary on this subject.For RBI pensioners a scheme of notional up gradation has reportedly been approved by the Ministry of Finance (Dept.of FS) on 5/3/2019. Howevever as already mentioned whether we can be equated with RBI is a moot question.
In the absence of any clause in Pension Rules to provide for automatic periodical hike in pension , it is necessary for us to carefully handle the  pending case in SC. We have taken necessary action but we should be conscious of the fact that the result or fruits of our action lies  only with HIM as Lord Krishna says in Bhagavat Gita. I consider it relavant to quote a portion of the concerned sloka :
" karmanyeva adhikharaste ma phaleshu kadhachana " ( gita Ch 2:47 )
                                     Conclusion
Having analysed the scenario in regard to pensioners demands particularly those involved in court cases with parallel references to the banking sector, I wish to offer the following suggestions to the leaders of the organisations of LIC pensioners alone in regard to  the conduct of the pending SLP in the supreme court on the issue of up gradation .Needless to stress I am doing so on the basis of 'Take it or Leave it '
1) Please allow the pending case to remain dormant until at least regular open court proceedings commence in the supreme court.
2) Avoid 'one up' game to invite a hasty hearing through video conferencing as it happened in the case of united Bank pensioners.
3) Understand that ours is not a very urgent case in terms of Sc classification and that considering the delicate mature attending to the upgradation demand a regular open court hearing will be a better option than a virtual hearing.
4) you may appreciate the legal acumen in your individual members or associates but restrain them if possible from doling out legal advice or opinion through blogs,mails etc.
5) Leave matter to be handled by your chosen counsel(s) and keep counseling the counsels to the minimum.
                           I am sure that every one will share my hope that the virus scare will go away soon and an early lifting of the lock down will enable all to resume normal activity shortly. I wish all the pensioners very Happy times in the days to come.
-- GNSridharan