SCOVA : Minutes of the 30th SCOVA meeting held on 23rd March 2018

F.No. 42/05/2018-P&PW(G)

Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, P.G and Pensions
Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare

3rd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhawan
Khan Market, New Delhi-110003
Date:- 25th April, 2018

To

All the Pensioners Associations included in the SCOVA
vide Resolution dated 31.01.2018

Sub:- Minutes of the 30th SCOVA meeting held under the chairmanship of Hon’ble MOS(PP) on 23.03.2018, at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, New Delhi-reg.

Please find enclosed herewith the minutes of the 30th Meeting of Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) held under the chairmanship of Hon’ble MOS(PP) on 23.03.2018, at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, New Delhi for your kind perusal.

Encl: as above                                                                                    S/d,

(Charanjit Taneja)
Under Secretary to the Government of India

Minutes of the 30th Meeting of Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) held on 23.03.2018 under the chairmanship of Hon’ble MOS(PP) at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, New Delhi

The 30th meeting of Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) was held under the chairmanship of Hon’ble MOS(PP) on 23.03.2018. List of participants is enclosed.

2. Joint Secretary (P) welcomed the representatives of Pensioners Associations and the participating officers from various Ministries/Departments

3. He mentioned that some issues of the last SCOVA meeting have been resolved. Two review meetings were held with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on 05.06.2017 and with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, CPAO, Ministry of Defence, Department of Telecom and Department of Financial Services on 09.01.2018 to resolve issues pending in SCOVA.

4. Thereafter, the Action Taken Report on the decisions of the 29th SCOVA meeting and Fresh Agenda Items of the 30th SCOVA meeting were taken up for discussion.

5. Discussion on the Action Taken Report of 29th SCOVA meeting

(i) Revision of PPOs of pre-2006 pensioners.

CPAO, Ministry of Railways, Department of Telecom and Department of Posts informed that revision of pension w.e.f 01.01.2006 in respect of all pre-2006 pensioners has been completed. CGDA informed that out of a total of 1,39,504 Air Force Pensioners drawing pension as on 01.01.2016, 76591 were identified as pre-2006 pensioners. Revised authority in respect of 69,595 pre-2006 pensioners has been issued. However, revised PPOs in respect of 6996 pensioners were yet to be issued. These cases are pending due to non-matching of records (PPO No.) provided by PDAs with the records available with Pension Sanctioning Authorities (PSAs). Banks are also not able to intimate correct PPO numbers in these cases. He informed that efforts are being made to identify these 6996 pre-2006 pensioners.

The Air Force Association contested the claim of CGDA that there are only 1,39,504 Pre-2006 Air Force Pensioners. It was brought out by the Secretary Air Force Association that in Mar 17, the Raksha Mantri while giving an answer to Lok Sabha Starred question had indicated the figure as 2,05,942. Further, as late as Feb 18, the JCDA (AF) has shown the figure as 2,60,895 Air Force Pensioners in an excel sheet marked as “CPPC wise, no. of pensioner-airforce” and sent to Directorate of Air Veterans, (DAV) Air HQ on their CD. As regards the number of pre-06 Air Force Pensioners for whom Corr. PPOs have not been issued, the number is close to 1,00,000 and not 6,996 as stated by CGDA.

It was decided that CGDA will reconcile the figures of all pending cases of revision of pension of pre-2006 pensioners in consultation with Directorate of Air Veterans, Air HQ and issue revised authority in respect of all the pre-2006 pensioners along with their 7th CPC Pension revision. CGDA will also take urgent action to identify the 6996 pre-2006 pensioners and issue revised authority, where necessary. It was decided that the CGDA will fix a target date of around 3 months for completion of these activities. Subject to this, the item was closed in respect of all other Departments.

(Action: CGDA)

(iii). Special “Higher” Family Pension for widows of the war disabled invalidated out of service.

Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare informed that the matter has been examined in consultation with Service Headquarters. In accordance with the relevant rules, on death of a pensioner in receipt of disability pension, only the normal family pension is allowed. Therefore, Special Higher Family Pension for widows of war disabled pensioners is not permitted under the rules. It has therefore been decided, in consultation with Defence (Finance), that the request for Higher Family Pension in such cases cannot be accepted.

(Action: Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare)

(x). Delay in commencement of family pension to spouse on death of pensioners.

It was mentioned that instructions issued by DoPPW/CPAO provide that family pension to widow should commence within one month of the receipt of death certificate in respect of deceased pensioner. However, widows and other family members of the deceased pensioner continue to face a lot of difficulties in getting the family pension started.

CPAO informed that they have obtained information regarding time taken in commencement of family pension from all banks. The report prepared by CPAO confirms that there has been considerable delays by the banks in commencement of family pension on death of pensioner. The family pension commenced within stipulated period of one month was only in only 38% in cases. In around 47% cases, the time taken for commencement of family pension was more than 6 months. CPAO informed that they have again issued instructions to all the banks on 30.01.2018 and had also taken a meeting with these banks on 31.01.2018 to impress upon them the need for ensuring that the family pension commences within the stipulated one month period. Department of Pension and PW has also taken up the matter with Department of Financial Services on 07.02.2018 forwarding a copy of the report received from CPAO and requesting them to advise all Banks to adhere to the timeline.

DFS was requested to take up the matter with the banks at highest level to make sure that the families of the deceased pensioners get the family pension in time and an acknowledgment is invariably given by the Bank to the family member on receipt of the death certificate of the deceased pensioner and application for commencement of family pension. CPAO was advised that the representatives from DFS may also be invited in meetings held by CPAO with the banks.

Tamil Nadu Ex-services League informed that the issue is also concerned with Defence Family Pensioners and there are number of delayed cases. They also handed over the list of delayed cases to the DFS.

Uttarpara Central Govt. Pensioners Association representative said that carrying on payment of pension by banks after receipt of death certificate from spouse etc. causes subsequent complications and delay in start of family pension, be stopped by banks.

(Action:- CPAO, Department of Financial Services, CGDA and DoPPW)

(xiii). Additional Pension for recipients of disability pension of age of 80 years and above.

Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare informed that orders in this regard have been issued by Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare vide their letter dated 05.09.2017. The item was accordingly closed.

6. Discussion on Fresh Agenda Items of 30thSCOVA meeting

(30.1) Revision of PPOs of pre-2016 pensioners/family pensioners as per 7th CPC orders.

CPAO informed that out of 9.06 lakh cases, 5,98,400 have been received from PAOs of different Ministries/Departments. Out of which, 5,13,160 cases have been revised as per 7th CPC. CPAO also informed that revision at their end has been fast, however, the cases are not coming from the DDO level because of non-availability of records. The pensioners associations stated that although PPOs have been revised in many cases, pensioners are not getting the copy of the Revised Authority. Also, as well as payments have not been started by the banks due to non-receipt of PPOs by them in many cases.

Department of Posts informed that out of 2,58,205 cases, they have issued revised authorities in respect of 2,17,644 cases.

Department of Telecom informed that out of 95,659 cases, 90,572 cases have been revised as per 7th CPC.

Ministry of Railways informed that out of 13,87,542 cases, 8,43,391 cases have been revised.

Out of 5,58,761 cases of Defence Civilian pensioners/family pensioners, revised authority has been issued in respect of 1,52,417 cases. Ministry of Defence intimated that they are monitoring the revision of cases of pensioners at highest level i.e by Secretary (Defence); and CGDA is also monitoring these case fortnightly. Concordance tables for service pensioners have been prepared and will be submitted to Ministry of Defence for approval. Pensioners also raised point of following different guidelines by PCDA(P), Allahabad than the guidelines issued by CPAO. It was advised to CGDA to issue centralized guidelines so that the same guidelines are followed in their all units.

It was decided the work revision of PPOs should be completed by all Ministries/Departments (except Ministry of Defence) by 31.05.2018. Ministry of Defence/CGDA will complete the work in respect of civilian pensioners by 30.06.2010.

Uttarpara Central Govt. Pensioners Association said that the revised PPO should be sent by issuing authority to the last known address of Pensioner/Family Pensioner by registered Post to ensure its delivery.

N.F. Railway Pensioners Association raised the issue that although the PPO has been revised there are lying with the banks and banks are not revising pension because of shortage of man-power. Ministry of Railways was advised to hold meetings with the SBI, Assam especially CPPC, Guwahati, Kolkata and Patna and UCO bank to sort out the problems.

(Action: CPAO, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Defence, Department of Telecom and Department of Posts)

(30.7) Difference in Last Rank held and Rank for Pension in the case of pre 2006 military pensioners.

Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare informed that the pension of pre-2006 pensioners was fixed w.r.t the pay scale of the rank which was held by the pensioner for a minimum of 10 months. However, the condition of 10 months service in the rank is not applicable in the case of post-2006 retirees. It is in this background that different criteria has been fixed for fixing of rank pension in the case of pre and post 2006 pensioners. DoPPW clarified that in the case of civil pensioners for revision of pension of pre-2016 pensioners, orders have been issued for fixation of notional pay with respect to the last pay/pay scale of the pensioners, even if that pay was drawn for one day only.

It was decided that a detailed reference may be made by the Pensioners Associations to Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare bringing out all the issues involved. Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare will examine the issue afresh and take an appropriate decision in this respect, in consultation with Department of Expenditure.

(Action:- Department of Ex-servicemen Welfare)

7. In view of the large number of unresolved issues relating to banks, it was decided that a special review meetings on issues related to banks will be taken by Secretary (P&PW). CPAO and Department of Financial Services will also participate in the meetings.

8. Hon’ble MOS(PP) said that it had been a pleasant and fruitful interaction, which is indicative of the efforts being made by the Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare. He said that the SCOVA has made a considerable progress since first time the SCOVA meetings were convened.

9. Hon’ble MOS(PP) referred to some recent initiation of the Government for the benefit of pensioners. For instance, minimum pension has been increased to Rs. 9000/-, ceiling of gratuity has been increased to Rs. 20 lakh, FMA has been increased to Rs.1000/- per month. Constant Attendance Allowance has been increased from Rs. 4500/- to Rs. 6750/- w.e.f 01.07.2017. Some benefits relating to income-tax e.g Standard Deduction, tax-rebate etc.on interest made available in the Finance Bill, 2018.

10. Hon’ble MOS(PP) referred to a news item published in some newspapers regarding difficulties in disbursement of pension in the absence of Aadhaar linkage with the Bank Account. Hon’ble MOS(PP) clarified that Aadhaar has not been made mandatory for getting pension for Government employees. Aadhaar is an additional facility to enable use of technology for submission of life certificate without the need for visiting banks.

11. On the question of redressal of pension related grievances, Hon’ble MOS(PP) stated that DoPPW is the nodal department for receiving grievances through CPENGRAMS. However, it is for the concerned administrative Ministries/Departments to take suitable action to redress the grievances. Therefore, DoPPW forwards these grievances through CPENGRAMS to the concerned officers for disposal in a time bound manner. DoPPW, however, continues to monitor quality disposal of the grievances.

The meeting ended with the vote of thanks to the Chair

30th Meeting of Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA)

23rdMarch, 2018, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, New Delhi 

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

SI.No.	Name	Designation
1.	Dr. Jitendra Singh	Hon’ble Min of State (PPG & Pensions)Chairman, SCOVA
2	Shri K.V.Eapen	Secretary (P&PW) Convener & Member Secretary, SCOVA

 Officers/Officials of Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare

SI. No.	Name & Designation	Department
1.	Shri Sanjiv Narain Mathur	Joint Secretary
2.	Shri Harjit Singh,	Director
3.	Smt. Seema Gupta	Director
4.	Shri A.K Singh	Under Secretary
5.	Shri S. K. Makkar,	Under Secretary
6.	Shri.S. Chakrabarti	Under Secretary
7.	Shri Sanjay Shankar	Under Secretary
8.	Shri R K Dutta	Under Secretary
9.	Shri Charanjit Taneja,	Under Secretary
10.	Shri T. C. Varghese,	Under Secretary
11.	Shri Subhash Chander	Under Secretary
12.	Shri Rajesh Kumar	Section Officer
13.	Shri Prem Kumar	Sr. Consultant
14.	Shri S.P.Kakkar	Consultant
15.	Shri. H.S.Toki	Consultant

 List of Participants- Ministries/Departments

S.no.	Ministry/Department	Name & Designation
I.	CPAO	1.          Sh. N.K.Mishra, CC(Pension) 2.          Sh. Subhash Chandra, CA 3.          Sh. M.S.K.Ansari, ACA
2.	Department of Posts	1. Sh. Dilip Padhye, Sr. DDG
3.	Department of Telecom	1. Sh. Sanjay Agarwal, Director (Estt-II)
4.	Department of Financial Services	1. Sh. Gulab Singh, Deputy Secretary
5.	Department of Expenditure	1. Sh. Arnar Nath Singh, Director
6.	CGDA	1. Sh. Puskal Upadhyay, Jt. CODA
7.	Ministry of Health and Family Welfare	1.    Ms. Bindu Tewari, Dir (EHS) 2.    Dr. D.C.Joshi, Director (CGHS)
8.	Department of ESW	1. Sh. Manoj Sinha, Under Secretary
9.	Ministry of Railways	1.    Sh. B.K.Singh, Exe. Dir F(E) 2.    Dr. Amitava Dutta, Exe, Dir (Health) 3.    Sh. G Kabni, Director F (CCA) 4.    Sh. N.P.Singh, Jt. Dir E (P&A)
10.	Department of Revenue	1.         Sh. Sudhir Kumar, Jt. Secretary (Admn), CBDT 2.         Sh. Nubhai Singh, US (Ad-1X), CBDT
11.	Ministry of Home Affairs	1.      Dr. S. Chakraborty, DIG (M d), CAPFs, MSG & AR 2.      Sh. Rakesh Negi, DIG, BSF 3.      Sh. Raman Kkumar, US, MI-1A 4.      Dr. Rajesh Kumar (Assam Rifle)
12.	NIC	1.    Sh. Y.K.Singh, Sr. Tech. Dir 2.    Sh. Anil Barisal, Tech Dir

 List of Participants- Pensioners Association

S.no.	Pensioners Association	Name
1.	Air Force Association, New Delhi	1. Grp. Capt. Ashok Sethi
2.	NF Railways Pensioners Assn,Guwahati	1. Sh. S.M.Kanjilal
3	Central Govt. Pensioners Assn, Jaipur	1.     Sh.V.K.Kasliwal 2.     Sh.S.K.Sharrna
4.	Central Govt. Pensioners Welfare Association, Noida	1. Sh. A.K.Nauriyal
5.	Tamilnadu Ex-services League, Tamilnadu	1. Lt. Sundar Sugumar
6.	Govt. Pensioners Association, Dehradun	1. Sh. M.C.Mittal
7.	Uttarpara Central Govt. Pensioners Assn, West Bengal	1. Sh. Kamlesh Bose
8.	All India Ex-para Military Personnel Association, Jalandhar	1. Sh. Balwinder Singh
9.	Railway Senior Citizens Welfare Society, Punjab	1. Sh. Harchandan Singh
10	All India Organisation of Pensioners, Lucknow	I. Sh. V.K.Mishra
11.	Railway Pensioners Welfare Association, Gwalior	1.        Sh. A Dyavanna 2.        Sh. Bhanuprasad M
12.	All India Org. of Pensioners (Civil &Military) Kerala	1. Sh. K Krishna Pillai

Signed Copy

(Source- Govtempiary blog)

E-Pension Payment Order: New Step in the Right Direction

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Defence

14-May-2018

E-Pension Payment Order: New Step in the Right Direction

Furthering the Digital India-initiatives of Govt. of India, Principal Controller of Defence Accounts(Pensions), Allahabad has startedissuance of electronic-Pension Payment Orders (e-PPOs) to the pensioners along with their Pension Disbursement Agencies viz., Banks, Defence Pension Disbursement Offices, Post Offices, etc. What began in the first phase, for all Commissioned Officers and JCOs/ORs of Armed Forces from the month of October 2017, has now been extended to all defence pensioners including defence civilians.

Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (Pensions), Allahabad is the sole agency under Ministry of Defence which sanctions Pensions for the Defence Services viz., Army, Coast Guard, Defence Research and Development Organization,General Reserve Engineer Force, Border Roads Organization, Military Engineering Services and other Defence organisations including Defence Account Department and Defence Civilians.

The shift from manual system to e-PPO system is expected to minimize delays in pension disbursement and further revision as and when needed. This initiative also eliminates the occurrence of human errors in data entry at multiple levels.

The next big step in this direction would be digitizing pension documents received from 46 record offices and more than 2900 Heads of Offices. This initiative by PCDA (P) will facilitate better implementation of OROP.

Source : PIB

MOD SPONSORED LITIGATION INDUSTRY - MAKE IN INDIA PROGRAMME

Kudos to our Judiciary for finally taking steps to rein-in the Menace of unbridled MoD sponsored Litigation Industry. 

After SC imposed 01 Lac fine on MoD twice within one month for continued litigation on legally settled matters, now AFT Chandigarh asks for names of erring MoD Officials so that exemplary fine/ imprisonment can be ordered. 

Presently over thousand appeals are pending in SC alone filed by MoD. 189 SLPs have been filed in NFU case itself. 

For filing each such appeal in SC, over 02 Lacs are paid to lawyers. 

This is how Crores from Def budget are being diverted to lawyers on frivolous litigation to clog justice delivery system & harass Soldiers & Veterans. 

Cut from this loot is reportedly shared by all dealing officials. 

We sincerely hope that Judiciary continues with similar judgements to cleanse this system.

Satymev Jayate

Jai Hind

(Source : Via Gp e-mailfrom R Gopal Veteran)

CGDA - CENTRALISED PENSION DISBURSEMENT SYSTEM CONCEPT PAPER FOR ARMED FORCES PENSIONERS

Ministry of Defence disburses appx Rs. 51,000 crore every year as pension benefits to 24.16 lakh defence pensioners – both service personnel as well as defence civilians. While pension sanction is being done in a centralised way – by PCDA (Pension) Allahabad in r/o Army and defence civilians; by PCDA (Navy) in r/o Navy personnel and by JCDA (AF) Subroto Park, New Delhi in r/o Air Force personnel, pension disbursement is being carried out by a number of agencies who are working as PDAs (Pension Disbursing Agencies) – 28 Public Sector and 4 Pvt Sector Banks, 63 DPDOs, State Treasuries and Post Offices. Banks have the largest number of pensioners on their roll – appx 18.06 lakh pensioners or 75% of the total number of defence pensioners. And they disburse Rs. 3800 crores every month (or Rs. 45,600 crores per annum which is almost 90% of the total pension disbursement to defence pensioners) as pension to these pensioners. Instances have come to notice where different practices have been followed by banks or where different interpretation have been arrived at and implemented for one government order, resulting in complaints from pensioners. An analysis of grievances received at the Ministry or at CGDA office or at PCDA (Pension) office reveal that more than 95% of the complaints pertain to pensioners drawing their pension from the banks. The task of addressing these grievances and providing services to pensioners to their complete satisfaction is an arduous one. This, however, could be changed by adopting a new paradigm for pension disbursement.

2. This new paradigm is centralised disbursement of pension. This simply means disbursing pension from a central agency viz. Centralised Pension Disbursement Agency to all the pensioners. The Existing Pension Disbursement System. 

PDA - (CPPC) - Bank A/c

PDA  - (DPDO) -  Bank A/c - Cash Payment

PDA (Treasury) - Bank A/c- Cash Payment

3. The present system of pension disbursement is an opaque one in the sense that it does not easily provide details reg. no of pensioners, category wise distribution of pensioners, amount of pension disbursed in a month and govt's pension liability. Collation of the information from various sources is quite difficult and the output is not always accurate.

4. Further, in the existing system, there is a multiplicity of PDAs ‐ 29 Banks, 63 DPDOs and a large number (500+) of State Treasuries. As mentioned earlier, many a times PDAs tend to interpret Govt. Orders differently. This, in some PSA cases delays the implementation of the order itself and in some other cases the order gets to be implemented differently by different PDAs. In both cases, generally, pensioner is the sufferer. There are other issues/difficulties in the existing pension disbursement system:‐

I. With multiple PDAs, the system is not amendable to effective monitoring as well as grievance handling. It makes the task of all decision makers including the Ministry, a very difficult one.

II. There is a delay in booking the pension amount to Govt. account. This also makes it relatively difficult to know the exact pension liability.

III. Even at a given time, it becomes an arduous task to exactly find out the number of active defence pensioners (including categories‐wise) as the information is to be collated from a large no. of PDAs.

IV. Maximum pensioners are drawing pension from banks. It has been experienced that they (Banks) do not have dedicated staff to deal with pensioners' issues. Also, they are not well conversant with orders/issues peculiar to Defence pension..

The Proposed System

5. The proposed system of Centralised disbursement of pension is not only transparent but easy for information processing and retrieval (PPO & pension (Pension amt) documents).

PSA - CPDA - Pensioners - Bank A/c

6. Under the proposed system, after sanctioning pension and issuing Pension Payment Order, the pension sanctioning authority will forward the PPO and other details – including bank details – of the pensioner to the Centralised PDA on soft format through a secured channel. It could be on the CGDA intranet and for enhanced security could also be with digital signature. The CPDA will process the papers and will initiate first payment as well as subsequent monthly pension payments for credit to the pensioners’ bank accounts (as given by the PSA along with the PPO) through the NEFT/RTGS or the CMP (on‐line payment mechanism with SBI). Since the CPDA is making payment of pension – he can directly book the amount to the government account, avoiding any delay or suspense head booking. For the pensioners, there will be no change as they would receive pension in their bank account, as is the status presently. The proposed system only replaces the multitude of PDAs with a single PDA without affecting the pensioners’ interest and rather bringing about a focused delivery mechanism. There are a number of benefits of the proposed system –

i. Uniform interpretation and implementation of govt orders

ii. Instant booking of pension payment to govt accounts – giving authorities a true picture of the pension liability and payment.

iii. Better grievance monitoring system can be instituted with a single PDA. Easier for everybody.

iv. Centralised database will help in better exploitation of information and communication technology for the betterment of services to the pensioners.

v. There will be no change as far as pensioners are concerned. They will continue to receive their pension in their given bank accounts.

vi. No loss to the banks in terms of accounts maintenance as they will continue to be the final pension paying agency.

vii. Future scalability is possible and relatively simple. For example, a centralised call centre could provide solutions to the pensioners for their queries or complaints.

7. In addition to these benefits, the proposed system will also result into a large saving to the Ministry of Defence. Presently, MoD pays Rs. 60 per transaction to Banks; and with 12 regular payments and 4 DA payments in a year, MOD pays Rs 960 per pensioners per year. For 18.06 lakh Bank pensioners, this amounts to almost Rs. 180 Cr. every year. If all pensioners are brought under the centralised PDA system ‐ where CPDA will credit pension in pensioners Bank A/c through NEFT/RTGS ‐ saving of Rs. 180 Crore could be achieved.

Implementation Modalities

8. Phase I can cover all new pensioners – appx. 80,000 per year – coming into pension fold. This can be done from a particular date which can be decided after taking decision on centralised pension disbursement and creating necessary IT and Communication infrastructure.

9. In Phase II all DPDO pensioners can be covered. All original files may be shifted to the CPDA DPDO‐wise. Given that out of 63 DPDOs, 52 have been centralised under Project Ashraya (Pension disbursement system), this is likely to be smoother phase wherein shifting of files and their appropriate indexing will be the main activity / focus.

10. In Phase III existing bank pensioners can be covered depending upon the response of the banks. This would be the toughest phase both in terms of making banks agree to the new model and in database management Banks revenue loss will also be a big issue from their perspective. As such this phase will require perseverance and a different strategy (including for database management) which can be derived and decided later from the success of the first two phases.

11. An issue which may require a conscious decision would be whether the centralised disbursement should be from one location or multi‐location. It is considered that in a networked environment, location may not be an important factor from the view‐point of users. However, for the ease and adaptability with the existing pension set‐up, it is recommended to have three centres associated with the existing pension sanctioning authorities, viz. PCDA (P), Allahabad, PCDA (N), Mumbai and JCDA (AF), New Delhi. It is also recommended to have a centralised call centre, which can have access to the complete database of the three centres of CPDA. The call centre can be colocated with one of the three centres for the purpose of administrative convenience.

Role of DPDOs in the proposed centralised system

12. DPDOs are Pension Disbursement Agencies in the exiting set‐up. Each DPDO is a distinct PDA. Presently, 63 DPDOs – 51 in northern India and 12 in Southern India (Eastern central and Western India have no DPDOs) – are working as PDAs for 4.7 lakh pensioners.

13. If we divide the role of a DPDO in terms of (i) processing of monthly pension payments and (ii) identification exercise (which is not restricted to any specific month (e.g. November for bank pensioners) and continues for the whole year) then it can be stated that in the proposed CPDA paradigm, role of DPDOs will not be there for first part (i.e. payment processing). However, they can be effectively used for the second part ‐ identification of pensioners. This would mean that DPDOs would need to be remodelled as service centres for pensioners/ which will carry out their annual identification, accept change requests/applications on behalf of CPDA (for cases related to re‐marriage, re-employment, death, Bank account changes etc.) and can also act as grievance handling /settlement centre as they would be linked with the CPDA server and can have a higher protocol communication with the CPDA call centre. It is considered that in the proposed model ‐ one DPDO may only require one AO, one AAO (or two AAOs) and one MTS ‐ all proficient on the new system. Savings achieved in manpower (to be assessed) can be used for opening up a few more service centres in areas where pensioner concentration is relatively very high or in existing offices of DAD or even with the Zila Sainik Board Offices.

Infrastructure requirements

14. To start the work at the CPDA, it is assessed that manpower strength of one IDAS, One AO, two AAOs, 4 Adrs and 2 MTS would be sufficient and can even last for the first two phases with 2‐4 additional Adrs. It is assessed that this manpower can be spared from the existing resources of the organization of CDA (PD). Hardware requirement would include the following:‐

Two Blade Servers of latest specification 8 PCs, 8 Printers including one line printer

2 10 KV UPS

LAN -  Wan connectivity with 4 MBPS Bandwidth

15. Software requirements would include operating system, Application software, and Anti‐virus. While OS and anti‐virus can be bought off the shelf, Ashraya can be used as application software with modifications amenable to centralised processing as well as call centre type information retrieval. In the medium term, however, there will be an unavoidable requirement of a professionally designed & developed integrated system and action for the same would need to be taken.

16. Other office equipment will include furniture, phones (including highend communication system for call centre purposes), photo‐copiers, Genset etc.

17. Similar hardware requirements would be there for setting up the call centre. While call centre manpower can be outsourced, monitoring can be effected by the CPDA officers, as call centre is proposed to be established colocated with the CPDA.

Costing

18. It is estimated that total fixed cost for establishing the CPDA will be in the range of Rs. 80 – 100 lakh. This will include Computer Hardware, Office Equipment, Communication system, LAN and WAN connectivity (as detailed out above) and other Misc expenses as per following details –

Servers Rs. 35 lakh

Printers Rs. 4 lakh

PCs Rs. 4 lakh

UPS Rs. 4 lakh

Gen Set Rs. 3 lakh

Photocopier Rs. 3 lakh

Furniture Rs. 10 lakh

Communication Rs. 15 lakh

Misc. Rs. 2 lakh

Total Rs. 80 lakh

Thus, for the establishment of three disbursement centres and one call centre, total one‐time cost is estimated to be in the range of Rs. 3 – 4 crores..

19. Running Cost excluding manpower cost but including maintenance of all hardware, communication expenses and WAN connectivity rentals (and hired manpower for call centre) is estimated to be Rs. 25‐30 lakh per year per centre or Rs. 1 to 1.5 crore for the four centres.

20. Manpower cost has not been estimated because it has been considered that the immediate requirement can be met by drawing the required manpower either from the savings which may be achieved in the existing DPDOs or even from the ZO (PD) / CDA (PD). It is, however, estimated that cost will be involved – both for hardware as well as for manpower – if service centres are required to be opened at new locations. While the one‐time establishment cost is estimated to be in the range of Rs.. 15 lakh, running cost (including manpower cost for 1 AO+1 AAO+2 MTS, rental charges and other maintenance charges) could be appx Rs. 40 lakh per annum per service centre. For opening of say 50 new service/liaison centres, a one‐time expenditure of Rs. 7.5 crore would be required whereas total running cost would be Rs. 20 crore per annum.

Issues

21.The following issues are expected to emerge in the new set‐up :‐

i. From the feedback received from various quarters, the biggest issue that is likely to emerge in the new set‐up would be the lack of an agency which could provide the pensioners a forum for personal interaction/contact at their nearest place. In the exiting set‐up, DPDOs and bank branches provide this and associated services to their respective pensioners. In the proposed set‐up, as discussed above, DPDOs can continue to play this role for all pensioners in their areas. However for bank pensioners (particularly in areas where DPDOs are not operating), this issue will need resolution as this will have a bearing on other associated issues like identification at the time of first payment, annual identification, change requests, intimation of re‐employment & re‐marriage, death cases & life time arrears payment etc. To address these issues, different models can be considered:‐

I. For first payment, in r/o PBORs, respective PAOs may be authorised to identify the pensioners on the next day of their retirement (since the PBORs are attached with their respective Record Offices till the last day of their retirement). The PAO may log into the CPDA system and do the needful. System would need to provide this facility and necessary rights for the same. Jeevan Praman website can also be an option for this purpose.

II. Officers may also approach Defence Pensioners Liaison Centre for this purpose. Jeevan Praman website can also be an option for this purpose. (Since, original document in the proposed set‐up are to be with CPDA, it is presumed that it may not be possible to assign this responsibility to the pensioners bank branch.) Similar process may be followed for annual identification also, for which even periodical camps may be organised at some of the locations. Further, for inquiries as well as grievance redressal, establishment of a centralised call centre, as discussed in preceding Para, would be a vital and unavoidable requirement. The call centre can also appropriately guide the pensioners about many of their issues and about course of action they need to take regarding any particular activity.

iii. Processing of 25 Lakh pension payments every month could be another challenging issue which would require robust infrastructure ‐ hardware, software, communication, and human ware.

22. It is perceived that this challenge is not insurmountable and could be overcome with a mix of planning, implementation and exploitation of Information & Communication Technologies and also adequate resources as discussed above.

Conclusion

23. The proposed system of Centralised Disbursement of Pension far outweighs the existing distributed system in terms of benefits to the Ministry, to the Pensioners and to the overall system per se. It is easier to implement, to monitor and to maintain. The system is positively susceptible to current grievance management and to future scalability. It would be possible for the Ministry to get information about total number of pensioners, category wise distribution, exact pension liability etc. from a single source. Finally, the system, if fully implemented, can result into a huge saving of Rs. 150 crore every year to the Ministry of Defence.

Colonel  N K Balakrishnan ( Retd ) ,

" SINHGARH",Pulleppady,
Chittoor Road,Kochi-682018

(Source : Via Gp e-mail)

Air Chief Marshal IH Latif is now passed away : World War II veteran took Air Force to greater heights

SIR,

YOU WERE INSTRUMENTAL IN 1980 FOR CLEARING EN-MASSE PROMOTIONS FOR ALL THOSE AIRMEN WHO HAD NO HOPE OF PROMOTIONS THOUGH OVERDUE. IT WAS TAGGED AS LATIF PROMOTIONS / JANATHA PROMOTIONS.

THIS SHOWS YOUR CONCERN FOR WELFARE OF THE MEN YOU COMMANDED.

RIP SIR.

SGT GV NARAYANA AIR VETERAN 

BLOGGER

=================================================

Hyderabad: Air Chief Marshal Idris Hasan Latif, PVSM, who passed away on Monday, was perhaps the only Air Force Officer associated with three different air forces and participated in several battles, including World War II. He was associated with the Royal Indian Air Force, Royal Air Force and Indian Air Force. He also trained pilots of the Indonesian Air Force. Latif is the only Muslim to have served as the head of any of the three wings of the Indian armed forces.

After retiring from IAF, Latif was appointed as governor of Maharashtra. He also served as Indian ambassador to France. Latif (94) was associated with a number of philanthropic activities. He had been ailing for some time.

P Anuradha Reddy, city historian and an authority on Indian aviation, described Latif as a great human being. “He was a patriot to the core. He had rare qualities. Latif preferred to stay with the Indian Air Force during partition,” she said. He was instrumental in modernising the Indian Air Force.

Latif was born on June 9, 1923, in Hyderabad. He was commissioned into air force on January 26, 1942, and retired from service as the chief of air staff on August 31, 1981. 

He became a Flight Lieutenant on August 15, 1948, and a Squadron Leader on August 15, 1949. He was promoted to Wg Cdr on 01 Oct 54, Acting Gp Capt on 10 Jun 59, Group Captain on 01 Oct 62, Acting Air Commodore on 15 Jan 64, Air Commodore on 01 Apr 67, Air Mshl and Commander-In-Chief on 27 Jun 74, and Air Chief Marshal on 01 Sep 78.

A product of Nizam’s College, Latif succeeded to the top post in the Indian Air Force on the retirement of Air Chief Marshal H Moolgavkar. Latif ’s father Hasan was the chief engineer in the Nizam’s Hyderabad state.

He had the honour of serving both the Royal Indian Air Force prior to Independence and the Indian Air Force after India became free. RAF is incidentally celebrating its 100th year of formation. He participated in World War II, Indo-Pak and Indo-China wars. He flew in India’s first Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 1950. 

In 1971, Latif received Param Vishist Seva Medal. 

He was instrumental in the procurement of Jaguar strike aircraft, MiG-23 and MiG-25 aircraft.

(Source : TOI)

Stop Clogging Courts with Frivolous Cases, SC tells Govt : Centre Pulled Up For Similar Pleas, Fined Rs. 1L Twice

New Delhi:“The couldn’t-care-less and insouciant attitude of the Union government with regard to litigation has gone a little too far,” the Supreme Court said and castigated the Centre for repeatedly filing appeals on identical questions of law despite being fined earlier for clogging the justice delivery system with frivolous cases.

Ticking off the Centre for snail-paced efforts to streamline its litigation policy, a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta recently used the NDA government’s reformist slogan of “ease of doing business” to make a sharp point. “Under the garb of ease of doing business, judiciary is being asked to reform. The boot is really on the other leg,” the bench said. Pointing to the collateral damage the overcrowding of the judicial system caused other litigants, besides financial liabilities of the government, the court asked when the “Rip Van Winkleism” would end. “We hope that someday, some sense, if not better sense, will prevail on the Union of India with regard to the formulation of a realistic and meaningful national litigation policy and what it calls ‘ease of doing business’, which can, if faithfully implemented, benefit litigants across the country,” the bench said.

On December 8 last year, the SC had dismissed a batch of appeals filed by the Centre. Unmindful, the Centre filed another batch of petitions in March involving the very same question of law. It was dismissed with a cost of Rs 1 lakh on March 9. “Unfortunately, the Union government has learned no lesson,” the bench of Justices Lokur and Gupta said on April 24 when it came across a third set of appeals on the same issue with an identical question of law.

‘Govt has created huge financial liability by engaging 10 lawyers’

The bench said it had expected the Centre to take steps to withdraw all pending appeals from the SC registry once the question of law was settled by the December 8 order. “But obviously, the Union government has no such concern and did not withdraw appeals from the registry. The government must appreciate that by pursuing frivolous or infructuous cases, it is adding to the burden of this court and collaterally harming other litigants by delaying hearing in their cases through the sheer volume of numbers. If the Union government cares a little for the justice delivery system, it should display some concern for litigants, many of whom have to spend a small fortune in litigating in the Supreme Court,” it said and slapped an additional cost of Rs 1 lakh while dismissing the appeals.

Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Lokur said, “To make matters worse, in this appeal, the Union government has engaged 10 lawyers, including an additional solicitor general and a senior advocate. In other words, the Union government has created a huge financial liability by engaging so many lawyers for an appeal whose fate can be easily imagined on the basis of existing orders of dismissal in similar cases. “Yet, the Union of India is increasing its liability and asking the taxpayers to bear an avoidable financial burden for the misadventure. Is any thought being given to this? The real question is: When will the Rip Van Winkleism stop and Union of India wake up to its duties and responsibilities to the justice delivery system?” Referring to the Centre’s 2010 “National Legal Mission” to reduce average pendency from 15 years to three years and the “National Litigation Policy”, the SC said, “None of the pious platitudes of the NLC have been followed, indicating not only the Union government’s lack of concern for the justice delivery system but scant regard for its own policy.

”The court said the 2010 policy was supposed to be reviewed and reformulated in 2015.

(Source - TOI)