MINUTES OF THE CORE COMMITTEE MEETING OF TSEWA HELD ON 21 MARCH 2018 AT 1000H AT 143 VAYUPURI SECUNDERABAD
The following members were present:
Brig CS Vidyasagar (Rtd) – President
Cmde Sudheer Parakala (Rtd) – Vice -President
HFO AV Reddy (Rtd) – Vice – President
Col Dr GB Sethi (Rtd) – General Secretary
Lt Col G Parvathesam (Rtd) – Treasurer
Gp Capt CRR Sastry (Rtd) – Joint Secretary
Hony Capt B Joseph (Rtd) – Joint Secretary
Col MJ Ganapathi(Rtd) – Member Core Committee
Col VS Ramana Reddy(Rtd) – Member Core Committee
Col Ravi Chowdary (Rtd) – Member Core Committee
Cmde Ashok Kota(Rtd) – Member Core Committee
The President welcomed all present and requested the General Secretary to start the proceedings.
Points from the General Secretary
Legal Cases: TSEWA has done phenomenal work in last three years by throwing open 45 winnable cases to the ESM community so that collective litigation at an affordable cost can be pursued. Of these three cases were won, 13 cases are in various stages of adjudication, 17 cases are with our counsels in AFT Delhi for filing , 5 cases are under scrutiny at HQ TSEWA and 7 are dropped for lack of adequate response.
National Executive Committee (NEC). NEC meeting for the year 2017 – 18 will be held on 25 Mar 2018 at 143 Vayupuri, Secunderabad to deliberate on many issues affecting functioning of TSEWA and to take decisions for their implementation. Details of accommodation, arrangements for out station members of the NEC were recounted and H Capt B Joseph agreed to look after the accommodation at AWHO Sector C.
Combining the AFT 28 and 28-B Legal Cases. We have about 80 members in AFT 28 and about 112 members in AFT 28-B. Now that we need to file applications service wise (Army, Navy and IAF for Officers), it was considered prudent to combine both cases and file one case for each service. Hence we may call these cases 28 A (for Army Officer Pensioners), 28 N (for Navy Officer Pensioners) and 28 AF(for Air Force Officer Pensioners). The suggestion was agreed to by Brig SKS Rana when spoken to and the consolidated Memo of Parties to gather with documents will be sent by the week end.
Increase in Legal Fee. The case will be discussed in detail at the NEC.
Crowd Funding in cases like that of Capt Gurung. The case will be discussed in detail at the NEC.
ECHS New Card. Feed back from many members showed huge difficulties faced by JCO and OR members residing in rural & remote areas in filling and uploading the on – line applications for issue of new 64 kb cards. Cdr Ashok Kota mentioned that ECHS Regional Centre is not extending any assistance. Gp Capt CRR Sastry referred to the efforts of Col TN Raman of Chennai in highlighting the irregularities in issuing of new ECHS Cards at regular intervals and he planned to host a meeting in Chennai (AWHO Parameshwaran Enclave, Saligram, Chennai on 25 Mar 2018). He felt that frequent up gradation cards and charging the beneficiaries for such card appears to be a scam and representation against these actions will only issue of wishy washy replies by ECHS Central Organisation. He was of the opinion that an application needs to be filed by TSEWA through an authorised Representative at an AFT Bench considered feasible by the General Secretary. It was decided that the matter will be discussed by NEC in its forthcoming meeting.
Cases of Reservists and MNS Officers. General Secretary expressed his concern that these two cases were hanging fire for past eighteen months and they need to be filed expeditiously to avoid adverse reaction from members. Gp Capt CRR Sastry agreed to scrutinise the documents in these cases, have the memo of parties prepared and dispatch the cases to Brig SKS Rana, VSM, President, Legal Division, TSEWA for his action.
Points from Treasurer.
Financial Position. The treasurer briefed the house about the financial state of TSEWA accounts.
Crowd Funding for Destitute ESM or their Families. The Treasurer felt that we should share the details of Bank account of the destitute ESM with environment so that they make donations directly into the bank account. The donations into TSEWA accounts create problems of accounting, reconciliation and avoidable tax implications like double tax etc.
Resignation. Mr Prahlad who was our accountant has resigned and in his place Mr Venkat was appointed.
Three cases of charity was approved and he is carrying three cheques for handing over to the beneficiaries at Kochi during his visit.
Hony Fg Offr AV Reddy, Vice President mentioned his activities in resolving the problems of ESM with the help of his contacts in DESW and PMO.
He mentioned the specific case of discrepancy of spouse name not being shown in PPO of a pensioner.
H Capt B Joseph, Joint Secretary mentioned about his visit to Bengaluru to carry out membership drive. He will try his best to get maximum members for TSEWA from retiring personnel of Madras Engr Group, Bengaluru.
Points from the President
Awareness Camps Punjab and UP.
The President briefed the house about his visit to Punjab and UP.
TSEWA conducted a camp at Bhogpur, Jalandhar Dist, Punjab in which 700 ESMs and family pensioners attended. Besides a detailed presentation on anomalies in Pensions etc individual issues were examined and remedial actions were initiated. Four ESMs and family pensioners living in penury was met in their residences and their cases are being put up after Col Raghbir Singh, President, TSEWA Punjab sends all documents to Charity Division.
TSEWA team have interacted with a good advocate in AFT Chandigarh (his name is not being disclosed due to restriction imposed by the code of ethics of Bar council of India) to explore the possibility of his inclusion in the panel of Counsels for pleading cases facilitated by TSEWA. He made a good impression on the TSEWA team as a lawyer who reminded the team about Ethics of Advocacy which prohibit use of a counsels name in publicity material.
He also said that fees for each case can be negotiated. He further said that he will take up only the case of applicants who are residents of States that fall under the jurisdiction of AFT Chandigarh (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and UT of Chandigarh). He also said that whether a case should be pursued as a class action suit or an individual suit depends up on the subject matter of the application. He also said that the out come of a case cannot be assured.
250 persons attended the awareness camp in Ghar Shankar in which presentation was made as was done in Bhogpur. Individual issues were addressed for remedial action. Later the team visited 4 villages to ascertain the state ESM community especially of the widows.
At Lucknow, Team TSEWA interacted with the RSB Director and Col Veterans in Lucknow sub area.
250 persons attended the awareness camp at Lucknow of whom 50% were Officers. The President recommended that Col Harshvardhan Singh and Col Dharam Raj Singh should be inducted into the NEC. This could increase the foot print of TSEWA in UP which has 4.56 lakhs of ESMs and family pensioners.
The TSEWA team interacted with another advocate in AFT Lucknow who expressed his willingness to be included in the panel of Counsels of TSEWA. He said if the Lead Applicant is to be a domicile of UP/Uttarakhand and other petitioners can be from any other State /UT. He can take up such cases and said that fees are negotiable. He expressed his agreement for the payment schedule of legal fee.
There being no further points, the meeting was declared closed.
Brig CS Vidyasagar (Rtd)
President, TSEWA