MINUTES OF TSEWA CORE GP MEETING HELD AT 0900 HRS ON 20 SEP 2017 AT 143, VAYUPURI, SECUNDERABAD
The following members were present:-
- Brig CS Vidyasagar (Rtd) – President
- Cmde Sudheer Parakala (Rtd) – Vice President & Member Charity Division
- Sgt Lawrence Joseph (Rtd) – Vice President
- Col Dr GB Sethi (Rtd) – General Secretary
- Lt Col G Parvathesam (Rtd) – Treasurer
- Gp Capt CRR Sastry (Rtd) – Joint Secretary
- H/ Capt B Joseph (Rtd) – Joint Secretary
- H/ Capt M Narasimha Reddy(Rtd) – President, TSEWA Telangana
- Col MK Veeramani (Rtd) – Member & Head Charity Division
- Air Cmde GS Nijjar – Member Charity Division
- Lt Col N Ravi Chowdhary (Rtd) – Legal Advisor & Member
- Lt Col Vijay Chandra Salins (Rtd) – Administrator TSEWA Web
- Hony Capt M Narasimha Reddy (Rtd) – President, TSEWA, Telangana
- Lt Col Hari (Rtd) – Member
- Lt Col Dr K Bhaskar Reddy – Medical Advisor, Head Audit Team
- Brig T Ramaiah (Rtd) – Special Invitee
- Smt Asha – Special Invitee
Opening the discussions President welcomed all and thanked each one of them for attending today’s meeting. Then he introduced Mrs Asha to all the members. As usual he said that first Gen Secy will give his points, followed by Treasurer, then Vice President, then Head Charity Division, followed by all others. Lastly President will give his points.
Points from Gen Secretary:
Donation of Smt Sarla Kriplani, a civilian to TSEWA : Gen Secy said that Mrs Tina Ambani publishes a magazine by name “Harmony” from Mumbai. They heard the good work being done by TSEWA. Their local correspondent came, took the interview of President and Gen Secy. The same has been published in their Magazine “Harmony”. Reading that article, Mrs Sarala Kripalani, who is not even a member of TSEWA, who is a civilian, donated Rs 50,000/- to TSEWA for our charitable activities. Her gesture was very much appreciated by all, and she was thanked profusely.
Hav Harish Asthana, President, TSEWA, UP and Lt Col VRS Ramana Reddy helped 3 JCOs to get their dues, which was pending for a long time. All present thanked Hav Harish Asthana and Lt Col VRS Ramana Reddy for their good work.
Progress on AFT New Cases: Gen Secy informed that Hony Nb Sub- 2 documents were dispatched to Brig SKS Rana VSM, President Legal Divison of TSEWA on 27 Sep 2017.
For AFT 15 i.e Getting benefit of ACP for pre – 2006 JCOs /OR, only 17 members have joined so far. More are not likely to join. Therefore, it was decided that Lt Col N Ravi Chaudhary will select a local member as the Lead Litigant and file this case at Secunderabad Circuit Bench of AFT Chennai. Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary agreed to do the needful. Gen Secy was asked to co ordinate with both Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary and Gp Capt CRR Sastry who will do the needful immediately.
All Documents of AFT 5, i.e Enhanced Rate OFP for family pensioners (widows) of JCOs /OR are ready for dispatch. The same will be sent on 09 Oct 2017 to Brig SKS Rana VSM.
Regarding BB- 3, Air Cmde Nijjar has raised a point, that in view of Govt letter dated 05 Sep 2017 regarding automatic payment of dues of BB, whether is there any need to file BB-3 and BB-4 cases. President and General Secretary informed that though letter of Govt of India, Ministry of Def dated 05 Sep 2017 mention of benefit of broad banding to be given to all those drawing disability element as on Jan 2016, it is better to wait for some more for clarity as many a time the Govt letters are very ambiguous. Once the pre – 2016 disabled soldiers are given benefit of broad banding then only BB – 3 and BB – 4 can be dropped.
Air Cmde Nijjar wanted someone to help him in making the Legal Brief for the AFT – 17: Reservists case. President volunteered to help him and jointly legal brief will be made soon. Hence this can be filed at AFT Delhi. Regarding BB-4 if required, Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary and Gp Capt Sastry will check the documents and will forward the same to Brig SKS Rana VSM.
Action to be taken by President, Gp Capt Sastry, Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary, Air Cmde Nijjar, Brig SKS Rana VSM.
Points from Lt Col G Parvathesam, Treasurer
Internal Audit : Treasurer informed that during the Core Gp meeting held on 20 Sep 2017, it was decided that Lt Col Dr K Bhaskar Reddy will carry out the internal Audit of our accounts. He said the accounts are ready and Lt Col Dr K Bhaskar Reddy can carry out the Internal Audit now. Lt Col Dr K Bhaskar Reddy said that on 07 Oct and on 08 Oct i.e on Saturday and Sunday, he will carry out the audit. Since Sunday is a holiday for our office staff, he was asked to do the audit on 07 Oct. If it was not completed in one day i.e on 07 Oct, then it can be done only after 12 Oct, since Treasurer will be out of station from 07 Oct to 12 Oct 2017. He had agreed for the same.
Action to be taken by Lt Col Dr K Bhaskara Reddy, Treasurer
AFT Case on Col TS – 2: Treasurer informed that all documents of Col TS – 2 are ready. The Memo of parties will be prepared and sent to Brig SKS Rana VSM. After that it will be put on our Blog. By Nov 2017, Brig SKS Rana VSM and Brig Srivastava VSM, may be able to file the case.
Action to be taken by All concerned.
Points from Col MK Veeramani, President, Charity Divison of TSEWA:
Col MK Veeramani informed that he has sent one e mail to all the members of TSEWA, (who are having an email id), to locate poor, deserving students, who are very good at Studies, so that TSEWA can help them financially to pursue their studies. Then he has sent individual e mails to all Presidents, i.e Dist Presidents, State Presidents and Zonal Presidents by name. Then he had sent a SMS to all Dist, State and Zonal Presidents . W/O Tamil Chellvam, President, TSEWA Tamilnadu, Col Kishor Sinh Gohil, President, TSEWA, Gujrat and Sub KV Subba Rao, President, Coastal Andhra Pradesh only responded so far. Till now charity division has not got any case for charity. At this rate it is not understood how the Charity money can be spent by 31 Mar 2018. It was suggested that President should send an email to all members to do the needful immediately.
President suggested that Giddalur, Prakasham Dist, Andhra Pradeh has got lot of ESMs. Since Lt Col VRS Ramana Reddy belong to that area, he asked Lt Col Ramana Reddy to go there , contact all the ESMs with the help of Col N Sitaramaiah, former Vice – President, TSEWA and presently serving as O i/c ECHS Polyclinic, Giddalur and get as many deserving Cases as possible. Same way Lt Col G Parvathesam, Treasurer can do in his native district of West Godavari.
President also requested H/ Capt B Joseph and H/ Capt MN Reddy to contact as many ESMs as possible locally and do the needful. President also suggested that we need to give advertisements on payment. We can pay the required fee to RSI and get this published in the RSI weekly news letter. He also suggested that we can pay and get this information displayed as cinema slide during the picture days in RSI, Secunderabad. In addition H/ Capt B Joseph was requested to display our charity work in the notice boards at both the ECHS polyclinics Secunderbaad, unit run canteens. H/ Capt Joseph was also requested to give an advertisement in Times of India, Hindu and Eenadu. President said that he will speak to Director Sainik Welfare, Telangana and A.P and put up a notice in their notice boards. President said that in case we are not able to spend the money by 31 Mar 2018, with all the proof what we have done to give maximum publicity for this noble cause, we can request IT Dept to allow us to carry forward the unspent portion in the next FY. If the Commissioner Incoem Tax (Exemptions) Hyderabad agrees to our request, it is well and good, if not income tax will be paid on the unspent amount.
Action to be taken by President, Lt Col Ramana Reddy, Lt Col Parvathesam, H/ Capt Joseph, H/ Capt MN Reddy, Cmde Sudheer Parakala, Charity Division & Gen Secy.
Progress of EME JCOs case of Wrongful Deduction for Not Opting to Come under 6th CPC: Col MK Veeramani informed that he has sent individual emails to all the JCOs who have not sent the documents and the Legal Fees. Then he has sent SMS to all the JCOs. Still excepting one JCO, nobody else has responded. It was decided that we are having the complete set of documents required from 21 JCOs. They have also paid the Legal Fees. So it was decided that Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary and Gp Capt Sastry will file the case at Secunderabad Circuit bench of AFT Chennai immediately. Col MK Veeramani said that local EME Record Office and PAO (OR) EME have asked the affected JCOs to file the case in local AFT circuit bench, Secunderabad. Col Veeramani said that he has collected the Judgment Copies of 5 cases where the Judgment have been given in favour of the EME JCOs.
Action to be taken by Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary, Gp Capt Sastry, Gen Secy.
Point from H/ Capt B Joseph, Joint Secretary:
H/ Capt Joseph informed that during the last Core Gp meeting , he had volunteered to go to village of Sep Veeriah of Khammam dist, Telangana and do the needful with the concerned Police Station to file an FIR for the missing person since his whereabouts are not known. 17 Kumaon, his unit declared him as a Deserter and hence his wife is not getting any pension. She is suffering a lot with her children, since she is earning only around Rs 300/- per month. But he fell sick and could not go to her village. He said he will do it soon. He also suggested that there is AD Centre at Gopalpur-on-Sea near Behrampur, Odisha which is close to the village of Veeriah. Col Saras Kumar who hails from that place, is a TSEWA member, and he has joined in one of the AFT cases. Gen Secy was asked to contact him, ask him to use his good offices and do the needful in this regard. This lady needs immediate help.
Action to be taken by H/ Capt Joseph, Gen Secy, Col Saras Kumar
Points from Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary:
Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary referred to letters dated 05 Sep 2017 and 21 Sep 2017 of Ministry of Defence and said that since the Govt letter says that w.e.f 01 Jan 2016 Suo Moto the BB will be given @ 50%, 75% & 100% to all disabled soldiers irrespective date of retirement hence there is no need to file BB3, & BB4 cases in AFTs. President and General Secretary clarified and said the case will be discussed with Brig SKS Rana VSM, and who in turn will discuss with Brig AK Srivastava VSM, our legal counsel and a final decision will be taken.
Lt Col Ravi Chaudhary wanted to know that when we win any case in AFT, whether a copy of the Judgment is being sent by AFT to all Record Offices for the JCOs & Ors, in addition to
MP 5 for officers? President clarified that for officers the Judgment copy will be sent to MP 5 and for JCOs & OR it will be sent to PS 4, who in turn will be sent the same to all Record Offices. This is being done by Brig Anil Srivastava, VSM, our advocate.
Action to be taken by President, Brig SKS Rana VSM
Presentation on AFT – 17 : Reservists by Air Cmde GS Nijjar
In his presentation, Air Cmde GS Nijjar informed that he got documents of four types of Reservists:
1.Type 1.Those who have not served for the minimum pensionable period and hence not given any pension
2.Type 2. Those who have completed Colour Service but did not want to continue and do Reserve Service (when offered), hence were not given any Pension
3.Type 3. Those who have completed Colour and Reserve Service and given 2/3 of OR’s Pension, (but since 1973 Reserve Service is stopped), no Reservist retired during 2013 hence OROP is not given to them.
4.Type 4. Those who have completed Colour Service, and prepared to continue and complete Reserve Service but were not allowed to continue due to downsizing of Armed Forces or any other reason, but sent home. Such reservists are given Special Pension.
Out of the above, five Judgments have been given by AFTs in favour of the Reservists, to give pension to Type 1. In our list 17 members are there, who belong to this category. This legal case should be filed. 130 Reservists are getting pension, but OROP benefit is not given. Air Cmde Nijjar, Gp Capt Sastry and President will meet and finalise all the legal documents, as soon as Gp Capt CRR Sastry returns from his out station trip.
At this juncture Cmde Sudheer Parakala, Vice President informed that a judgment given by courts of law in favour of 6,000 naval personnel. They are the ones who joined Navy for initial service of 10 years prior to 1973. There after the system of colour service was abolished and were given option to continue for another five years to get pension. Those who opted and served for 5 more years are granted pension of Sailors. Those who did not opt to continue to serve for another five years were not given pension. But those who opted to continue but could not be provided alternate appointment were sent home without any pensionary benefit and now the hon’ble Surpeme Court has ruled that such naval personnel who wanted to continue for another five years but sent out should be given special pension. There are about 6,000 such naval personnel who get benefitted as NPO, Mankhurd, Mumbai will now process their cases for special pension.
Action to be taken by Air Cmde Nijjar, Gp Capt Sastry, President
MNS Case: All the MNS officers , who had served for 20 years and retired as Captains and Majors are not given OROP. Since no MNS Capt / Major retired during 2013, hence OROP was not given. Since they have served for 20 years, they should be given Lt Col’s pension and also OROP. This case will be filed soon.
Action to be taken by Air Cmde Nijjar, Gp Capt Sastry
Points from Mrs Asha:
Mrs Asha, who has not become a TSEWA member yet , wanted to donate Rs 1,00,000/- to TSEWA for Charity. She wanted this money to be spent on family pensioners of Jawans and girl children of ESMs who cannot pursue studies due to poor family back ground. President explained about donation for a specific purpose and general charity. He also explained the IT Exemption if donation comes as specific donation. Mrs Asha was prepared to give a certificate that her donation is a specific charity purpose.
Action to be taken by Treasurer, Gen Secy
Points from Lt Col VC Salins, Administrator, TSEWA Website:
Lt Col VC Salins brought out that TSEWA website is being updated periodically and all the useful information are being uploaded.
Points from President :
President informed that during the last meeting he gave a detailed presentation about the anomalies in 7 CPC Pay Matrix . He had explained how this affects the Serving officers and how this will affect Veterans after 2018. He also said that he had discussed this case with Brig Narinder Dhand and a serving Brigadier and both of them agreed in toto on the views given by the President. Another serving officer gave reference of Mrs Neela Joshi, wife of a serving officer and a practicing lawyer of Supreme Court. The indication is that we should file a PIL in the Supreme Court immediately with all supporting documents for this case of wrong Entry pay arrived in Defence Pay Matrix as what is applicable to civilians is not applicable to Armed Forces. President said that he will speak to Mrs Neela Joshi, and later on to Brig SKS Rana VSM, so that a PIL can be filed. It was decided that Brig SKS Rana VSM, will discuss with Mrs Neela Joshi and decide the fees to file and argue the PIL in the Supreme Court.
Action to be taken by President, Brig SKS Rana VSM
Non Receipt of Certified Copy of BB-2 Judgment: President said that after we won BB-1 case, he had worked out how much of arrears each petitioner will get. Same way now he will work out the arrears for BB-2 case also as soon as we receive the certified copy from Brig SKS Rana, VSM, Head Legal Division.
Action to be taken by Brig SKS Rana VSM, President
Volunteers from Himachal Pradesh: President informed that Col KKS Dadwal, President, TSEWA Himachal Pradesh spoke to him that two more officers are prepared to help TSEWA in HP. He wanted to know their designations. It was decided that he can co opt any member to help him and he can give the suitable designations to them such as General Secretary TSEWA HP, Treasurer, TSEWA HP as the same have been recommended by Cmde Sudheer Parakala in his vision document of TSEWA as and when it grows to bigger size.
Col KKS Dadwal has also informed that he has employed a lady to help him in maintaining his office work. It was agreed that any money spent to maintain his office is acceptable. He can raise the bill on TSEWA and the money will be reimbursed to him.
Action to be taken by Col KKS Dadwal, Treasurer
Designation of Heads of Various Divisons of TSEWA: Based on request received from one of the heads of the various divisions of TSEWA the nomenclature is changed as shown below:-
(a) Brig SKS Rana, VSM (Rtd) – President, Legal Division, TSEWA
(b) Lt Col Latif Vadakkayil (Rtd) – President, Pension Division, TSEWA
(c) JWO Milan Das (Rtd) – President, CPENGRAMS Division, TSEWA
(d) Col MK Veeramni (Rtd) – President, Charity Division, TSEWA
There being no other point President thanked all and the meeting was declared as closed. The next meeting will be held on, Tuesday 17 Oct 2017 (Diwali being celebrated on 18 Oct).
Brig CS Vidyasagar (Rtd)
President, TSEWA
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08 Oct 2017