Minutes of Meeting of National Executive Committee of TSEWA held at 10.00 am on 06^th July 2019 at  Gorkhali Sudhar Sabha, Dehradun (Uttarakhand)

Attendees: The President welcomed all present and the following attended.

1. Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd)             President in the Chair
2. Cmde Sudhir Parakala (Retd)       Vice President
3. Col GB Sethi (Retd)                        General Secretary
4. Brig SKS Rana, VSM (Retd)         President, Legal Div
5. Col S Srikantha (Retd)                   President Karnataka
6. Col G Parvatesam (Retd)               Treasurer
7. Col Ajit Singh Rana    (Retd)          President North India Zone
8. Col KKS Dadwal (Retd)                  President HP
9. Gp Capt CRR Sastry (Retd)           Joint Secretary
10. Hony Capt B Joseph (Retd)           Joint Secretary
11. Cdr Chandrashekhar (Retd)          Member
12. Col VS Ramana Reddy (Retd)        Member
13. Cmde KS Sandhu (Retd)                 President , Mumbai Metro
14. Brig RS Rawat (Retd)                      President, Uttaranchal

Six members of Local Organising Committee were in attendance. Some Core Committee members were present as invitees.

The President welcomed all present and thanked them for their efforts to attend the meeting. He requested the General Secretary to commence the proceedings.

General Secretary’s Points.

Item I. Progress on points of last NEC Meeting. All actionable points of last meeting were actioned.

Item II. Expanding the Foot Print and Membership of TSEWA. The General secretary informed that there is a lull in the over all activities of TSEWA and there is a need for an urgent rejuvenation. He said that TSEWA should concentrate on penetrating into the states like Punjab, HP, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, UP and Delhi NCR which account for about 55% of ESM in India. The other states where ESM population is considerable is Maharashtra, Tamilnadu and Karnataka. He expressed happiness that many EC Members are donating their might on a monthly basis and requested others to emulate them.

Item III. Gratitude to Brig RS Rawat. The General secretary expressed his appreciation to Brig RS Rawat (Retd), President, TSEWA for his considerable efforts in organising the arrangements for NEC Meeting and AGM of TSEWA and thanked him and his entire team for untiring efforts.

Item IV. Issues affecting TSEWA. The General secretary dwelt on following issues that are relevant to TSEWA.

1. Slow Growth of TSEWA. He said that the Presidents in each State should gather a team of 4 to 5 active members and make efforts to increase the foot print of TSEWA in Target Districts with large ESM Population.
2. Sec 80 G of Income Tax Act. He also informed about the grant of Exemption under Sec 80 G of Income Tax Act to donors who contribute to TSEWA accorded by Commissioner of Income Tax (Exemptions), Hyderabad w.e.f. Fin yr 2018-19. Treasurer got samples of receipt to donors issued by few organisations and the best was selected. Treasurer commenced issuing receipt for donors who contributed to TSEWA in the Fin yr 2018 – 19 with an advice to claim 50% rebate in Income tax.
3. ISO Certification.The General secretary informed the members of NEC that the surveillance audit of GIC, London, UK is completed and we would receive the certificate soon.
4. Slow Progress of Legal Cases. The General Secretary expressed his concern at the slow pace of progress in legal cases under adjudication of AFTs and delay in filing of cases awaiting filing.
5. Elected State Level Confederations of NCESMO. The General secretary emphasised on the need to constitute the Elected State Level Confederations of NCESMO in a time bound manner. He explained that TSEWA took initiative and got few ESM Associations from few districts in Andhra Pradesh. The meeting was held in the office of TSEWA to elect the President, Vice President of AP State Confederation. The proceedings of election were sent to President, NCESMO and he added them AP State Confederation as a new member. Presidents of TSEWA in various states may take initiative and get the formation of State Confederations. TSEWA will render all assistance for such meetings and elections.
6. Awareness Camps. The General secretary said that more awareness camps need to be held where the ESM and Family Pensioners are made aware of issues concerning them. TSEWA officials also examine the grievances of Individual ESM or Family Pensioners and take up their cases through CPENGRAMs for redressal.
7. TSEWA Trust. The General secretary said that need and registration of TSEWA Trust was approved by 3^rd AGM held on 24^th June 2017. Accordingly, the Trust deed was drafted and approved by the NEC. The Trust was registered by Registrar of Registration, Bowenpally, Secunderabad on 26^th June 2019.
8. Travel by Members. The General secretary said that all members have travelled to Dehradun at their own expense setting a healthy precedent. He said that while conducting TSEWA meetings in different states will give a fillip for expanding the footprint of TSEWA, the organisation cannot bear the travel expenditure of members for attending the meetings unless our Corpus builds up to Rs 5 Crores.

Item V. Treasurers Points.

Audited Financial Statements for FY 2018-19. The Treasurer reviewed the audited financial statement and explained the financial position of TSEWA. NEC having been satisfied with Financial Statements, recommended that they be placed before the AGM for approval of members.

Appointment of Auditor. The Treasurer said that M/s P S Reddy & Associates are willing for reappointment and since their work is satisfactory, they can be considered for re- appointment as auditors for the FY 2019-20. The NEC having been satisfied with M/s PS Reddy, recommended to the AGM for approval of M/s PS Reddy & Associates as Auditors for the FY 2019-20.

Item VI.  Presentation on NCESMO. Cmde Sudheer Parakala who drove the formation of NCESMO and its activities since then, made a detailed presentation on the need, structure and way forward for NCESMO. He said that only those ESM Organisations at District levels who have 2,000 members can form the Confederation. If no single Organisation with that number exists, then a group of ESM Organisations can come to gather and form the District level Confederation and elect two members as President and Vice President to sit on State Level Confederation. Similarly, the State Level Confederations will elect two members as President and Vice President to sit on National Level Confederation. He further said that all District Presidents will sit along with President of State Level Confederation during the meeting with State Chief Minister or Home Minister and will have a role in formulating the Agenda and discussions.

Cmde Parakala said that by joining NCESMO an ESM Organisation does not lose its identity or face any difficulty in running its affairs. By joining NCESMO, the ESM Organisation is not merging and since all ESM Organisations are apolitical and focussed on ESM Welfare, there can be no conflict of interest.

During the discussion, Col AS Rana inquired if NCESMO was recognised by the MoD. Cmde Parakala said that during the first meeting with NCESMO, RM directed officials to treat NCESMO as a recognised Organisation. However, no official communication was issued by the MoD to that effect.

Brig RS Rawat agreed to make efforts to form State level Confederation of NCESMO in Uttarakhand and the house expressed confidence that he will succeed in his efforts.

Cmde KS Sandhu said that it is very difficult to get Organisations join the NCESMO and proposed that even smaller ESM Associations with strength less than 2000 be admitted to NCESMO. It was explained that the structure of NCESMO envisages only ESM Organisations to come to gather to form NCESMO and hence efforts should be made to make these ESM Members of TSEWA and then form the State level NCESMO under the aegis of TSEWA.

Cmde Parakala concluded that the role of State Presidents of TSEWA is crucial for formation of State level NCESMO and exhorted them to make efforts in that direction.

Item VII. Brig SKS Rana. President Legal Div spoke on the status of Legal Cases.

1. OA 34/206. He said that shortage of Judicial and Administrative members in the three benches of AFT Delhi is causing serious delay in disposal of OAs filed by us. OA 34/2016 which was filed in AFT Delhi in Sep 2015 in which 799 applicants have joined is pending for passing of final orders for quite long time. When the judgment is delivered, large number of Applicants will benefit and he hoped that it will boost the growth of TSEWA. He further said that if REM judgment is passed in this case AFT 1B and C need not be filed.
2. Future Cases. Experience of last three years has shown that OAs with large number of Co Applicants are discouraged by AFT and filing of Counters by respondents is delayed due to number of applicants. This creates bottlenecks for expeditious disposal of OAs. Hence it was suggested by the Advocates that, in future each OA should have not more than 25 members and should be filed service wise. It was envisaged that a Legal Notice in the matter should be issued with in three months from the day the case was announced in the environment.
3. SFP Case. He informed that 13 individual applications were filed for grant of Special Family Pension to those wives whose husbands died in harness. The delay was the bench in AFT Delhi insisted that only those having Delhi address will be permitted to file the OA. TSEWA has been contacting all the petitioners and requesting them to give address of their relatives or friends in Delhi.

Item VIII. Appointment of NEC Members. In order to broad base the representation of members in NEC, following members who are active and regular attendees in weekly meetings were co-opted to be members of NEC.

1. Cdr Chandra Shekhar
2. Col MJ Ganapathy
3. Col VS Ramana Reddy
4. Col N Sitaramaiah
5. Maj B Bikshapathi

While agreeing with their induction, the house recommended that AGM may consider and approve their induction into NEC.

Item IX. Reservists Case. Col KKS Dadwal President, TSEWA HP State has made a very detailed presentation on the genesis and injustice meted out to Reservists. He said he has collected the documents of about 120 Reservists, but was told that only 13 were found eligible for filing application before AFT.

Gp Capt CRR Sastry said that he has checked all the documents and said that the reservists whose documents are sent can be divided into four categories as under:

1. Reservists with Pension. These are Reservists who completed 9 yrs of  Colour Service and 6 Years of Reserve Service. These form the bulk of Reservists and they were granted Reservist Pension. Reservists Pension being 2/3 of regular pension, they are kept out of the ambit of OROP. As a welfare measure this needs correction.
2. Reservists with Lump Sum Grant. These are Reservists who completed 9 years of Colour Service and 6 Years of Reserve Service and elected to receive Lump Sum grant in lieu of pension. These were comparatively fewer. If Lump Sum grant be treated 100% commutation of Reservist Pension, there is a case for restoration of their Pension.
3. Reservists who were discharged before completion of Colour Service at own request. They were not transferred to reserve and were not eligible to get any Pension. There are no rules that support any relief for these Reservists. Their numbers are at the most few hundreds and an Ex Gratia Pension can make them eligible for ECHS facility in their sunset years.
4. Reservists who on completion of Colour Service were discharged without transfer to Reserve. The Service (in this case Army and Air Force) have violated the terms of enrolment and since the Enrolment is a Contract, if one party causes loss to the other party due to violation of terms of Contract, the injured party is entitled to compensation which in this case would be Reservist Pension.

While concluding his presentation, Col KKS Dadwal exhorted TSEWA to seek justice for these aged Veterans.

Item X. Appointment of Members for TSEWA Trust. Gp Capt CRR Sastry said that initially it was envisaged that 7 members will be Founder Trustees of TSEWA Trust and add new members later. However, the Registrar has insisted the presence of all Founder Trustees at the time of Registration which was difficult for Outstation Trustees. Hence Trust deed of TSEWA Trust was registered with Three Founder Trustees namely Col Dr GB Sethi (Retd), Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd) and Gp Capt CRR Sastry (Retd). Now it is proposed to make the composition of Trust broader based to represent all sections of members and for that appointment of following members as Trustees may be considered.

1. Brig SKS Rana, VSM
2. Cmde Sudheer Parakala
3. Col S Srikantha
4. Hony Sub K Subba Rao
5. Sgt RK Unni

The house approved the proposal and recommended to AGM to approve their appointment as Trustees of TSEWA Trust. A date and time will be given to them to come to Secunderabad to be present in the office of Registrar, Bowenapally, Secundedrabad to sign the register held in the office and also to be videographed.

Item XI.  Points of Cmde KS Sandhu. Following issues were flagged by Cmde KS Sandhu.

1. Formation of Social Media Groups. Cmde Sandhu said that Social Media can be effectively used for spreading the message of TSEWA and also educating the Veterans about matters of their interest. He shared his experience of running a TSEWA Gp with about 100 members. It was felt that this a novel innovation that can be replicated in all states and regions.
2. Shortage of Manpower at Nav Pen Office. Cmde Sandhu said that there is an acute shortage of trained man power at Nav Pen Office and wondered how TSEWA can help. It was felt that TSEWA can share its knowledge and expertise if Nav Pen Office is willing to take our assistance.
3. Spreading the Message of TSEWA. Cmde Sandhu said that popular print and electronic media like Fauji India should be used to spread the message of TSEWA. He said efforts should be made to contact management of Fauji India in this regard.

Item XII.  Brig Suresh Nair.  He put across the following issues for consideration by NEC.

1. Donations for TSEWA. Brig Suresh Nair suggested that members who get benefitted by the efforts of TSEWA should be recommended to donate at least 10% of their arrears to TSEWA towards its Corpus. Gp Capt CRR Sastry said that such donations should be purely voluntary and hence no formal recommendation can be made. It can only be an appeal.
2. WhatsApp Group. He also shared his experience in managing a WhatsApp group with about 200 members in which all matters of topical interest are shared with members. He suggested that President TSEWA can form a group comprising of office bearers and NEC Members. It was informed that such a group is already functional.
3. Welfare Activities undertaken by Hony Lt Mohan Nambiar. He introduced Hony Lt Mohanan Nambiar who travelled all the way from Kannur, Kerala to attend the meeting. The members appreciated the enthusiasm and commitment of the member and requested for his active involvement in TSEWA Activities. Hony Lt Mohanan also showed a document which contains all relevant data every ESM should keep so that he need not search for any details like PPO No, Service No, Qualifying Service, Pension sanctioned, driving license no, Aadhaar no, PAN No of self and wife etc.

There being no further points the meeting was closed at 1645 hrs on 06 Jul 2019.

Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd)
President, TSEWA