Minutes of Weekly Meeting of the Core Committee of TSEWA at 0915 hrs on 19 June 2019 at 143, Vayupuri, Secunderabad- 500 094
The following attended:
- Brig CS Vidyasagar President in Chair
- Col Dr GB Sethi General Secretary
- Lt Col G Parvathesam Treasurer
- Gp Capt CRR Sastry Joint Secretary
- Col MJ Ganapathy Member
- Lt Col Vijay Salins Member
- Maj B Bikshapathy Member
- Hony Capt MN Reddy Member
- Lt Col Ravi Chowdary in Attendance
The President welcomed all present and thanked them for their efforts to attend the meeting. He requested the EC and Core Committee members to spare a few hours on every Wednesday to attend this meeting. He requested the General Secretary to commence the proceedings by giving out his points.
General Secretary’s Points.
Item No I. Membership Drive with Signal Parivar Blog. The General Secretary queried if we can leverage the Signal Parivar Blog to expand the foot print of TSEWA. During the discussion, it became clear that users of Signal Parivar Blog register themselves to access the blog, but their particulars won’t be available for sharing with TSEWA. More over privacy issues may also impinge such action. It was decided that we may put a notice on Signal Parivar Blog appealing the ESM Users of the Blog.
Item No II. Post 2016 Maj Gens getting less Pension than OROP. The General Secretary said that a Maj Gen of EME who retired after 2016 said that he is getting less Pension than OROP. The President said it is possible if the Maj Gen has very few or no increments in the rank in which he retired. He will explain the matter in greater detail during his presentation on the Controversy created by the CGDA on equalisation of OROP.
Treasurer’s Points.
Item No III. Treasurer mentioned following:
Audit Statements were received for review and signature of TSEWA Office Bearers prior to certification by the CA.
(a) Donations. Mr Muniratnam of Subhadra Trust has indicated that he would like to donate some more amount to TSEWA.
(b) Fund Transfer for AGM Expenses. Rs One Lakh as required by Brig RS Rawat Chairman of AGM Organising Committee.
(c) Bhadrachalam Case. Survival Benefit of Rs 60,000 was released by AGI to Ms Padma wife of (late) Veeraiah of 17 Kumaon. Action for getting Family Pension for her is to be initiated.
(d) Hony Nb Sub. Filing of case needs to be expedited as members are frequently enquiring about it.
Item No IV. Merger of ECHS with Prime Minister Jan Arogya Yojana (Ayushman Bharat) Scheme (PMJAY). Gp Capt CRR Sastry mentioned about a news item in Tribune saying that Existing Health Schemes of Central Government will be merged with PMJAY (Ayushman Bharat) Scheme. It was decided that we will watch for some definite announcement in the matter before taking further action.
Presidents Points.
Item No V. Controversy created by the CGDA on OROP Equalisation. The President made a 40 minute long presentation on the note of CGDA dated 05 Apr 2019 to JS, Min of Def (ESW) in which he concluded that the logic for implementation of OROP does not exist for two reasons. First was that 7th CPC equalised pensions of Pre – 2016 retirees with Post – 2016 retirees. Second is that there arose an anomaly where in those who retired after Jul 2014 get less pension than those benefited by OROP – 2013 and this anomaly is widespread. The President demolished each argument of CGDA point by point with detailed calculations. First is the pension of those who benefited by OROP – 2013 was enhanced by fitment factor of 2.57 to bring it to be effective from Jan 2016. The pension of those retired from Jan 2016 onwards was revised with the pay scale of 7th CPC. Therefore the pension of those retired w.e.f. Jan 2016 is higher than those who benefited by OROP – 2013. Moreover 7th CPC only recommends fixation of pay & allowances of serving soldiers and pension of those who retired w.e.f. Jan 2016. Though 7th CPC recommended Notional Pay method of pension fixation for Pre – 2016 retirees it is seen it benefits only those who retired closer to Dec 2015. All those who retired in 3rd to 5th CPC do not get any benefit by Notional Pay method of pension fixation.
Regarding second argument that some of the pensioners retired in the period from Jul 2014 to Dec 2015 and beyond was less than that of those benefited by OROP – 2013 is not widespread. The President explained that those who got lesser pension than in OROP – 2013 were those who got their promotion much later than their batchmates and they earned very few increments though their qualifying service was same. It is the number of years one holds the last rank is important. If one holds the rank just for one or two years due to delayed promotion, then the last pay drawn is less hence pension is also less when they retired in the period Jul 2014 to Dec 2015. There are many who retired in the period Jul 2014 to Dec 2015 and beyond who got much higher pension that those who got benefited by OROP – 2013. The President with data showed the increase in pension of those retired in calendar year 2018 for all ranks and proved that OROP – 2018 will enhance pension of all including those who got less pension than in OROP – 2013.
At the end of presentation, the obvious conclusion of the President as well as members was that the arguments of CGDA are specious and without any merit and have been created with the sole purpose of scuttling the process of OROP equalisation. During the discussion that followed, it was suggested that we should share the presentation slides with President IESL for sharing with other stake holders that are members of the CGDA Committee and if possible, presenting before the Committee appointed by the Hon’ble RM. It was also decided that a Legal Notice be issued to MoD and others demanding the timely equalisation of OROP.
There being no further points, the meeting was closed at 13.15h.
Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd)
President