In a significant decision, the government has decided to give a one-time option to select Central government employees to migrate to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), who applied for jobs advertised before December 22, 2003, the day the National Pension System (NPS) was notified but joined the service in 2004, when the NPS came into effect.
The option is available to the Central government employees enrolled under the NPS as they joined the service on or after January 1, 2004, the day the NPS came into effect, even though such posts were advertised before December 22, 2003, the day it was notified. The employees have time till August 31 to opt for the OPS. The order will be applicable to Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) personnel and other Central government employees who joined the services in 2004 as the recruitment process was delayed due to administrative reasons.
The employees’ contribution to the NPS will be credited to the General Provident Fund (GPF) of the individual.
The BJP-led government has maintained that restoration to the old system would cause an unnecessary financial burden on the government while several Opposition-ruled States such as Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Himachal Pradesh have announced that they would restore the OPS.
Till January 31, there were 23,65,693 Central government employees and 60,32,768 State government employees enrolled under the NPS. Except West Bengal, all States had implemented the NPS.
A senior government official told The Hindu that the decision was taken to address a vast gamut of litigations that the government faced on the issue. “There were hundreds of litigations in courts across the country, the government did not win a single case. Through court orders individual officials were getting benefit, we decided to issue general instructions for the benefit of all eligible officials,” said the official.
The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DPPW) held extensive consultations with the Ministries of Finance and Law and Departments of Expenditure and Personnel and reached a consensus to allow the employees the option to switch to the OPS. In 2020, the DPPW gave one-time option to those Central government employees to opt for the OPS who were declared successful for recruitment in the results declared before December 31, 2003.
However, representation was received from government employees referring to court judgment and orders by the Central Administrative Tribunals that allowed them to migrate to the OPS. Following this, the DPPW moved a proposal to issue a general circular to extend the benefit of the judgments to similar placed employees. Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh approved the proposal on Friday.
The exact number of employees who will be covered under the new order is not known and it will be known after eligible employees have exercised the option, said the official.
“The government was spending time and resources in fighting such cases in court. There were several orders by High Courts and even the Supreme Court to give OPS benefits to those recruits who applied for jobs before the NPS was notified. There was a huge demand from public representatives and questions were raised in Parliament too,” said the official.
The OPS or the Defined Pension Benefit Scheme assures life-long income post-retirement which is usually equivalent to 50% of the last drawn salary. The government bears the expenditure incurred on the pension. The Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2003 decided to discontinue the OPS and introduced the NPS. The scheme applicable to all new recruits joining the Central government service (except the armed forces) from January 1, 2004 is a participatory scheme, where employees contribute to pension corpus from their salaries, with matching contribution from the government and is market linked.
A DPPW order issued on Friday (March 3) said, “Instructions have been issued by the DPPW, vide OM No. 57/05/2021-P&PW(B) dated 03.03.2023 that, in all cases where a Central government civil employee has been appointed against a post or vacancy which was advertised/notified for recruitment/appointment, prior to the date of notification for the NPS i.e. 22.12.2003 and has been covered under the NPS on joining service on or after 01.01.2004, may be given a one-time option to be covered under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 (now 2021). This option may be exercised by the concerned government servants latest by 31.08.2023.”
The All India Defence Employees Federation, one of the government employee unions, welcomed the move. “We were fighting for implementation of the judgment to all similarly placed employees, the order is issued now. Our struggle to completely withdraw the NPS and restore the OPS will be intensified in the coming days,” said C. Srikumar, General Secretary, AIDEF.
Local body polls: Supreme Court seeks response from U.P. govt., State Election Commission
The Supreme Court on Friday, March 3, 2023, sought responses from the Uttar Pradesh government and the State Election Commission on a plea by a group of 14 Mayors to intervene in a case concerning the holding of local body elections in the State.
A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud issued notice and listed the case after three weeks. The Mayors said they should be allowed to continue until new Municipal Corporations are in place.
The court, on January 4, had stayed an Allahabad High Court direction to the Uttar Pradesh government and the Election Commission to hold local body elections without reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC).
The same order gave the Uttar Pradesh government’s Dedicated Backward Classes Commission time till March 31, 2023 to conduct a “contemporaneous rigorous empirical investigation”, in accordance with the triple test conditions laid down by the Supreme Court, to identify backward classes who need political representation in the State.
The court had also, as an interim measure, adopted the High Court’s direction to the State to form three-member committees headed by District Magistrates in places where the tenures of the elected bodies had expired. The tenures of incumbent office bearers in several municipalities were set to expire by the end of January.
Meghalaya CM Sangma submits resignation, stakes claim to form new government
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma submitted his resignation to Meghalaya Governor Phagu Chauhan as the Chief Minister and staked claim to form the new government.
There are 29 MLAs so far, with 26 of them from the National People’s Party (NPP), two from the BJP and one independent. The NPP is set to head a coalition government for the second successive term in the State.
The party led by Sangma won 26 of the 59 Assembly constituencies where elections were held, seven more than it bagged in 2018. The State Assembly has 60 seats. Voting in the Sohiong constituency was deferred after the death of H.D.R. Lyngdoh, the candidate of the United Democratic Party (UDP), which also improved upon its performance five years ago. The UDP won 11 seats, five more than in 2018.
The outgoing alliance government Sangma heads has five parties apart from the NPP. They include the UDP and BJP. “I thank the people of Meghalaya for having voted for our party. But we are short of the majority mark. We will discuss with like-minded parties and decide how to go forward,” he told journalists after winning the South Tura constituency.
The NPP and UDP have enough seats — 36 between them — to form the government but keeping the BJP in good humour matters to small northeastern States that are largely dependent on the Centre for funds.
Remarks against PM: SC extends interim bail of Congress leader Pawan Khera till March 17
The Supreme Court on Friday extended till March 17 the interim bail granted to Congress leader Pawan Khera in a case related to alleged objectionable remarks he made against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Assam Police had arrested Khera in the case.
A three-judge bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala adjourned the hearing to March 17 as it had run out of time. The bench also pointed out that the replies of Uttar Pradesh and Assam were not on record and it will hear the plea after the Holi vacation.
It made clear that the interim bail granted to Khera will be extended till March 17 when it will hear the matter. Earlier, on February 27, the court had extended the protection to the Congress spokesperson till Friday.
Khera was arrested at the Delhi airport after being deplaned from a flight to Raipur over his alleged remarks against PM Modi made at a press conference on February 17 in Mumbai. He was later granted bail by a magisterial court here.
Supreme Court to hear Saket Gokhale’s plea against Gujarat HC decision on March 13
The Supreme Court on March 3 agreed to hear after Holi vacations a plea filed by Trinamool Congress spokesperson Saket Gokhale against Gujarat High Court’s refusal to grant him bail in a case concerning alleged misappropriation of money collected through crowdfunding.
A Bench of Justices B.R. Gavai and Vikram Nath listed the case on March 13, on the reopening day.
“I have always maintained that the money was collected through crowdfunding. This is not a case for denying bail,” senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, for Gokhale, submitted.
The court said that it had received the case file late last night and did not have time to go through it. “We will list it immediately after the vacations,” the Bench said.
The allegations against Gokhale are that he collected money through crowdfunding from over 1,700 people during the pandemic and misappropriated the amount.
The case was registered on the basis of a complaint filed by an alleged donor.
Gokhale was booked for offences like cheating, criminal breach of trust and forgery.
“It appears that there are serious allegations against the applicant (Gokhale). The investigation is going on and the chargesheet is yet to be filed… It appears that funding raised for welfare of the people was utilised by the applicant for his personal expenses,” the Gujarat High court had observed on January 23.
“There are many transactions, which appear to have been done on prima-facie going through the bank account statement, so it cannot be denied that some transactions might be done for his personal usage or not, which is a question of fact and can only be decided by evidence at the time of trial and not at the stage of investigation when the charge sheet is yet to be filed,” the High Court had said.
Gokhale has maintained that the case was spurred by “political vendetta”.
India scores 74.4 in World Bank index on life cycle of working women
The laws affecting the Indian working woman’s pay and pension do not provide for equality with Indian men, dragging India’s score in a World Bank index on the life cycle of a working woman down to 74.4 out of a possible 100.
A score of 100 on the Index means that women are on an equal standing with men on all the eight indicators being measured, according to the World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law 2023 report. India scored higher than the 63.7 average for the South Asian region, though lower than Nepal which had the region’s highest score of 80.6. Out of the 190 economies covered in the Index, only 14 scored a perfect 100: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
For India, the Index used data on the laws and regulations applicable in Mumbai, viewed as the country’s main business city. “When it comes to constraints on freedom of movement, laws affecting women’s decisions to work, and constraints related to marriage, India gets a perfect score,” the report said.
However, India lags behind when it comes to laws affecting women’s pay, laws affecting women’s work after having children, constraints on women starting and running a business, gender differences in property and inheritance, and laws affecting the size of a woman’s pension.
Recommending that India consider reforms to improve legal equality for women, the report noted that one of the lowest scores for India comes from the indicator assessing laws affecting women’s pay. “To improve on the Pay indicator, India may wish to consider mandating equal remuneration for work of equal value, allowing women to work at night in the same way as men, and allowing women to work in an industrial job in the same way as men,” the report said.
In Brief:
Sonia Gandhi admitted to Ganga Ram hospital due to fever
Former Congress President Sonia Gandhi has been admitted to the Sir Gangaram Hospital with fever and her condition is said to be stable. “Smt Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson UPA, has been admitted to Sir Gangaram Hospital under Dr Arup Basu , Sr Consultant Department of Chest Medicine and his team on 2nd Mar 2023 on account of fever. She is undergoing observation and investigations and her condition is stable,” said Dr. D.S. Rana, Chairman of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, in a statement. This is the second time the former Congress chief has undergone hospitalisation in a span of three months. This January, Gandhi was hospitalised at the same hospital with a viral respiratory infection.
Nobel laureate Bialiatski sentenced to 10 years in Belarus
A Belarusian court on March 3 sentenced Ales Bialiatski, Belarus’ top human rights advocate and one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, to 10 years in prison. Bialiatski and three other top figures of the Viasna human rights center he founded were convicted of financing anti-government protests. They were arrested and jailed after massive protests over a 2020 election that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a new term in office. Lukashenko — in office since 1994 — has suppressed opposition and cracked down on independent news media.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
