1.                   PART – II

CHAPTER - I

SECTIONAL MEMORANDUM ON POSTAL PENSIONERS ISSUES

1.1       The All India Postal & RMS Pensioners Association while endorsing and submitting the common memorandum prepared on consensus amongst various Pensioners Organisations also submits this Sectional Memorandum on Postal Pensioners issues for judicious consideration of the 7^th CPC.

III Largest Civilian Department Pensioners

1.2       The Postal Department is the third largest Central Government Department following Indian Railways and Defence. Naturally the Postal Pensioners segment is the third largest amongst the Central Government Pensioners. There are more than 2,00,000 Pensioners on the rolls of the Postal Department's pension roaster. While the common issues of Postal Pensioners are identical to that of the entirety of Central Government Pensioners, there are certain issues and demands peculiar to Postal Pensioners. This Sectional Memorandum is an attempt to place those issues before the 7^th CPC for objective consideration.

Discrimination on grant of Medical treatment

1.3       The Postal Pensioners who are not covered under CGHS (Central Government Health Scheme) are like their counterparts are granted FMA (Fixed Medical Allowance). But those pensioners who want to become beneficiaries of CGHS are facing discrimination at the hands of the Health Department for years. Those Pensioners who were already CGHS beneficiaries while in service alone are admitted into the CGHS after their retirement. The other pensioners are precluded from joining the CGHS. The CGHS is a scheme wherein every beneficiary is paying at the prescribed rates set by the CGHS. Therefore there is no logic or justification to deny admittance to any pensioner as a beneficiary in CGHS. The Pensioners of various Central Government Departments irrespective of their being a CGHS beneficiary or not while in service are admitted into the CGHS Scheme. The Postal Pensioners alone are denied the privilege of joining CGHS.

1.4       The reason attributed for this non-admittance in CGHS is the existence of one or two Postal Dispensaries in the particular State. The Postal Dispensaries (erstwhile P&T Dispensaries) were recommended to be merged with CGHS by the V CPC. The Government did not act on that recommendation. The VI CPC also recommended similar merger of Postal Dispensaries with CGHS. The Government had subsequently merged only 19 Postal Dispensaries in 12 Cities on the plea that only in those 12 Cities there is CGHS in existence and therefore the merger is feasible only in those cities. This is causing a serious problem because no Postal Pensioner in a particular State where even one Postal Dispensary is existing in any District of the State, to join CGHS. The Postal Pensioners residing under the jurisdiction of the Postal Dispensary in that particular district alone can be catered by that Postal Dispensary. Therefore there is no logic or justification for persisting with the stand that no Postal Pensioner will be allowed to join CGHS, just because there is one or two postal dispensaries in existence in that State.

1.5       The non-admittance of Postal Pensioner alone into CGHS is a clear discrimination being perpetrated against the poor pensioners of Postal Department. The Central Government was brought to notice of this issue by the Staff Side National Council JCM as well several Pensioners Organisations had raised this issue in the SCOVA forum also for remedy. Instead of solving this very important issue of Postal Pensioners, the Government is taking shelter under matter pre-judice clause since some aggrieved pensioners had already moved the Courts in different places. A recommendation by the 7^th CPC will sort out this age old problem and help the thousands of senior citizens who are in dire need of medical needs at their fag end of life.

1.6       It is not out of place to mention that the Pensioners were given a favourable verdict in the Central Administrative Tribunal of Kerala and upheld by the Honourable High Court of Kerala also under which the Postal Pensioners residing outside the CGHS area in the entire State of Kerala are permitted to become the beneficiaries in CGHS. Though the Central Government had filed SLP against this judgment, the Postal Pensioners of Kerala State are admitted into CGHS even though they reside outside the jurisdiction of CGHS city and irrespective of the fact as to whether they were beneficiaries of CGHS while in service or not. The benefit of Court Judgments in Kerala should be extended to all Postal Pensioners in other States as well.

Merger of all Postal Dispensaries under CGHS

1.7       The stand of the Government as against the recommendations of both V and VI CPCs for merging the P&T Dispensaries with CGHS is very negative. Lukewarm response was shown after VI CPC recommendation and after dilly dallying the question for years, the Governmetn ultimately came forward to merge  only 19 Postal Dispensaries with CGHS. The Government could have easily merged all the remaining Postal Dispensaries also by converting those infrastructures of Postal Dispensaries into CGHS infrastructure with additional expenditure not unmanageable by the Central Government. There is no meaning in some dispensaries in the name of Postal Dispensaries while a centralized CGHS can cater to the medical needs of all CG Employees and Pensioners in a much better manner. The Postal Pensioners covered under the existing Postal Dispensaries are not considered for treatment of hospitalization facilities is a clear case of discrimination amongst the same category of Central Government Pensioners. A welfare state cannot justify its act on any grounds including on the ground of financial burden to deny the medical needs for one section of Government Pensioners while the same is granted to majority of CG Pensioners. It is recognized by one and all that the Government was spending from its own exchequer towards running the P&T Dispensaries for the benefit of Postal and Telegraph workers without any contribution from employees goes to show that the Medicare is a social welfare measure on the part of the Government towards its work force. Therefore the CGHS though contributory in nature cannot be fully considered as a contributory scheme as it is also a welfare measure towards the CG Employees and CG Pensioners. We appeal to the VII CPC to recommend for total merger of Postal Dispensaries with CGHS without exemption so that all Postal Pensioners can be benefited without any discrimination.

Rent free BSNL landline Phone to Postal Pensioners

1.8       The Postal Department was segregated from the combined P&T Department on 31^stMarch, 1985. The Telecom Department later converted into BSNL is granting rent free land line phones to all Telecom and BSNL Pensioners and also to Postal Pensioners who have worked in the combined department of P&T for more than 20 years at the time of bifurcation. This means only those employees who were in P&T department in the year 1965 or before are entitled to get this concession. The cut off time fixed by the BSNL is unjustified. Most of today's Postal Pensioners were employees of combined P&T department entered in service only after 1965. Some such pensioners have approached courts and got a favourable judgment and based on those judgments got the concession extended to them by the BSNL. The general guideline of the Honourable Supreme Court of India that all similarly placed persons should be extended the same justice held out to any other person is ignored by the Central Government. This issue is continuously being discussed in the forum of SCOVA but the burden of decision is left on the BSNL which is dilly dallying the question for years together. We fervently appeal to the 7^th CPC for a recommendation to the Central Government for grant of rent free land line phone from BSNL to all Postal Pensioners who were recruited when the department was combined one irrespective of number of years' service put in by them in the P&T department.

Allotment of Postal Staff Quarters for Pensioners

1.9       There is a tendency amongst the employees of Postal Department to not to seek for residential accommodation in the Postal Staff Quarters for various reasons including owning of their own houses and not suitable to their work spots etc. Many such Postal Staff quarters were left unoccupied causing slow damage to the structure of the building itself. Instead of keeping the Postal staff quarters unoccupied, it would be welcome to allot them to the Postal Pensioners who opt for such quarters. The analogy for serving employees who live in Staff Quarters is recovering HRA besides a standard license fee. In the case of Postal Pensioners the vacant staff quarters according to the entitlement of the cadre in which they retired may be allotted to them on payment of standard license fee only as a token of served the department for a number of years. Similar concession may be extended to family pensioners also. We seek the kind recommendation of 7^th CPC in this regards.

Free Postage facility to Postal Pensioners

1.10     Various Central Government Pensioners like the Pensioners of Railways and Defence are offered special privileges like Railway Pass and Defence Canteens. The Postal Pensioners shall be extended some such concessions by the Government as is available to Pensioners in Australia. The Australian Postal Department (Australia Post) has implemented a scheme called "My Post Concession Account" in which postal concessions are offered to sections like Pensioners holding Pensioner Concession Card etc. The Postal Pensioners should be granted such facilities for free postage in a year.

Chapter – II

Gramin Dak Sewaks and Casual Labourers

Defined Pension to GDS Promotees on retirement

2.1       The new entrants on or after 1.1.2004  in the Central services are not covered by the Defined Pension benefit scheme but attached to NPS only. However, if any Casual labourer like the temporary status Mazdoors etc are regularised even after 1.1.2004, they should be treated as entered in service prior to 1.1.2004 only as per the judicial pronouncement of Honourable High Court of Madras. In a recent judgment the Madras High Court has held that 16 temporary status Mazdoors who were regularised in the Kalpakkam Atomic Energy Department after 1.1.2004 should be brought under Defined Benefit Pension Scheme and not under NPS by virtue of their entering the services as a Casual labourer well before the cut of date of 1.1.2004.

2.2       In the background of the above judgment we submit that there are thousands of casual labourers with or without temporary status in the Department of Posts without any scope of regularisation for years. Therefore when they get the opportunity to be regularised, they should not be placed under the contributory NPS Scheme but should be brought under the CCS(Pension)Rules, 1972. We request the 7^th CPC for a positive recommendation to the Government in this issue.

2.3       Due to wrong interpretation of the DOPT as well as the Department of Posts, hundreds of Casual labourers who have become eligible to be considered for grant of temporary status Mazdoors as per the scheme worked out by the DOPT in line with the Supreme Court of India's directive are deprived of the benefit. The DOPT order facilitates grant of temporary status to those casual labourers who have completed 240 days of service in a year (206 days in the case of casual labourers working in administrative offices) provided they had entered into the service as a casual labourer on or before the cut off date viz., The wrong interpretation made by the DOPT / DoP being that only those casual labourers who have completed 240 days of service on the cut off date itself will be entitiled for the grant of temporary status and that the scheme is not a running scheme for those who completes the eligibility on a subsequent date to the cut off date. This is not only an arbitrary interpretation against the spirit of the Supreme Court directive but also against regularisation of casual labourers themselves in the services. They will be able to be regularised only if they are granted with the temporary status and only if they get regularised they will be able to be made eligible for the defined benefit pension as discussed in the foregoing paragraph. We request the 7^th CPC for a recommendation by the Pay Commission for set righting a glare injustice to pave way for converting the period of casual nature as pensionable service.

Defined Pension to GDS Promotees on retirement

2.4       There are roughly three lakhs of Gramin Dak Sewaks in the Department of Posts who were recommended by the Justice Talwar Committee for the grant of pension by the Government by treating them as civil servants. This was not accepted yet by the Government. Meanwhile as per the analogy of the judgment of the Honourable Madras High Court, which directed to treat the period of casual nature rendered by the temporary status Mazdoors regularised after 1.1.2004 as employees entered in service prior to 1.1.2004, these Gramin Dak Sewaks also are to be treated as entered in to Postal Services before 1.1.2004 even though they get regularised in the posts of MTS / Postman / Mailguard etc after 1.1.2004 by virtue of their  long service as GDS that gives them the eligibility to regularisation.

2.5       In some cases there are judicial pronouncements to the effect that if there is any shortage of service in a regularized post for the eligibility to pension (10 years service) to those employees who were promoted to those posts from the cadre of Gramin Dak Sewaks, then the shortage should be adjusted from the long service rendered by them as GDS. The above judgment has not been extended to all similarly placed employees resulting in them retiring without any pensionery benefit. This is totally unjustified and against the legal pronouncements. We therefore suggest that the 7^th CPC may recommend to the Government for allowing such retirees to get pension by treating their shortage if any in the qualifying service from the long service rendered by them as GDS in the past.

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