Letter dated 19/7/2023 from AIIEA to LIC Chairperson-Clarifications required

It is indeed gratifying that AIIEA have addressed a letter dated 19/7/2023 to the LIC Chairperson on a   few issues relating to pensioners.The reminder for notifying the increase in the rate of family pension is one of them and the upgradation of pension similar to the one provided to RBI employees retired before 1/11/2017 effective from June 23 is another.  We have to remember  that even before the latest circular of the Central Government providing for upgradation of  pre-November 2017 RBI retirees, upgradation of pension to RBI employees has already been provided in April 2019, whereby their pensions were upgraded to  suitable multiples of their pre-revised basic pension and bringing them on par with post 1/11/2012 retirees in the matter of DR payable on such upgraded pension.Now the latest upgradation based on 1/11/2017 wage revision of RBI is only an extension of the earlier upgradation with applying of the multiple of 1.63 to the pre-1/11/2017 basic pension effective from 12/6/2023.  The scheme of upgradation of pension provided to RBI employees is flawed for the following reasons:  1.The upgradation provided in 2019 was prospective in nature and no arrears were payable for the period before April 2019 for the retirees with the result of huge loss suffered by them.  2.The  retirees who died  before the effective  date were not entitled to any benefit by this scheme of upgradation. Again, those retirees who had got the benefit of upgradation in April 2019 and died before 12/6/2023 as also those retirees of the period April 2019 to 12th  June 2023 have been excluded from the  benefit of the latest upgradation w e f 12/6/2023.  This is a gross injustice to retirees because, having provided upgradation  in April 2019, the benefits promised then and provided by the circular of June 2023 should have been in chain and continuous.It is  like providing wage revision for  serving employees for the period from 1/11/2017and making them effective only from June 2023.It is  morally and legally unsustainable. Excluding deceased as on the effective date is also a gross injustice, morally unsustainable and a violation of human rights as the deceased retirees are not alive to fight against the injustice.  The reply to my RTI query addressed to RBI a year ago revealed that  a little more than 8% of the retirees  who got pension upgradation in 2019 died within two years. This means  the benefits of upgradation are short-lived  and only the survivors are lucky ,for how long we don't know.  3.The upgradation provided in 2019, excluded family pensioners , but the latest upgradation covers family pensioners also.Application of the multiple of 1.63 to pre-revised basic family pension cannot have the DR rate as applicable from 1/11/2017.It is not clear whether family pension will  be updated  as at 1/11/2012 and then a multiple of 1.63 will be applied for the updation of family pension.(The RBI family pensioners have already been drawing 30% of last pay as basic family pension).  Now, coming to drawing a parallel to LIC  pensioners, we  have to think whether such a scheme of upgradation is acceptable to us as the prospective nature of the Scheme is a dampener.We estimate that more than 20000 pensioners have died since our legal struggle started.Even interim relief ordered by Supreme Court on 31/3 2016 was  paid effective from   1/8/1997 &  the arrears of DR for pre-August 1997 retirees was paid by LIC from 29/1/2007 (even though it was payable from 18/12/1998) as per the DHC order dated 27/4/2017.  My personal view is that we should not accept the RBI model of upgradation for LIC pensioners as we  will be betraying  the deceased retirees  in that process and even the increased pension that the surviving retirees may get will depend on their longevity.  The pensioners' bodies and the petitioners under the SLPs before the Supreme Court need to keep the above points in mind while adopting their strategies.  C H Mahadevan