Railway running staff —Incorrect implementation by Zones/Divisions -NFIR
NFIR
National Federation of Indian Railwaymen
3, CHELMSFORD ROAD, NEW DELHI – 110 055
Affiliated to :
Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC)
International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)
No.II/35/2019
Dated: 13/03/2020
The Secretary (E),
Railway Board,
New Delhi
Dear Sir,
Sub: Implementation of Government’s decision on the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission — Revision of Pension of pre-2016 retired running staff —Incorrect implementation by Zones/Divisions-reg.
Ref: (i) Railway Board’s letter No. D-43/34/2017-F(E)III dated 24/01/2018 (RBE No.13/2018).
(ii) Railway Board’s letter No. 2016/F(E)III/1(1)/7 dated 11/07/2019 (RBE No.112/2019).
Federation gives the details of calculation etc., vide annexure to this letter and also cites the following problems arisen in settling the cases of retired Running Staff for revising the PPOs.
(a) The concordance tables circulated by DoP&T vide O.M. dated 06/07/2017 do not cover the Running Staff whose pension/family pension has to be calculated after adding 55% to the last pay drawn. In the absence of appropriate concordance table, the notional fixation of pay of Running Staff retired prior to 01/01/2016 HAS NOT BEEN DONE ON THE ZONAL RAILWAYS.
(b) The pension/family pension of pre- 2016 Running Staff has been revised by the Zones/Divisions simply by applying the multiplication factor of 2.57. This establishes that these pre-2016 retired Running Staff have been deprived of benefit of option i.e. first, the pension calculated after notional fixation and second, the existing pension after multiplying by factor 2.57, whichever is higher. In this situation when notional fixation of pay has not been done, there appears no possibility for choosing the figure higher of the two.
(c) Though a separate concordance table for Running Staff was demanded by the Federation, the Railway Board on the contrary issued instructions to Zonal Railways vide RBE No. 13/2018 dated 24/01/2018, giving illustrations meaning thereby that the notional pay fixation in all cases of Running Staff has to be done by the Zones/Divisions manually.
In the given situation, firstly the pension of pre-2016 retired Running Staff is not being calculated on actual basis particularly in case of those Running Staff whose notional pay fixation exceeds the maximum of the pay level of the concordance table. Federation feels surprised that in these cases the Railways are calculating the notional pay fixation at Rs. 1,12,400 which is the maximum of the pay level whereas actual calculation shows more figure. Railway Board may please see item no. (i) of the annexure to this letter for proper appreciation of the difficulties.
This incorrect notional fixation creates a situation where the family pension is granted @30% of Rs.1,12,400 in place of the higher amount i.e 1,21,536 that has actually arrived at, when the notional pay fixation is done on actual without the restriction of higher pay level.
(d) The Federation has also come across the cases of revision of pension/family pension of pre-2006 retired Running Staff who superannuated during 5th CPC regime and were in Scale Rs.6500-10500. In their case the pension/family pension was fixed in GP 4200. Though the instructions have been issued by the Railway Board vide RBE No.112/2019 dated 11/07/2019 for recalculating and revising their pension/family pension from 01-01-2016 in GP 4600, the same has been revised manually in GP 4600, but their pension/family pension does not get accepted by the I PASS as it has been shown that the retiree was of GP 4200.
(e) Almost on all Zonal Railways, it has been complained that I Pass does not permit the correction in calculation made in PPOs already issued. The authorities concerned have been writing to Railway Board/CRIS for making correction in the PPOs, but unfortunately, no action has been taken for rectification.
Careful study on examples mentioned in the enclosed annexure substantiates the above deficiencies which are needed to be rectified for ensuring correct payment of pension/family pension to pre-2016 retired Running Staff/their family members.
NFIR, therefore, requests the Railway Board to consider the points listed above and issue clear instructions to the Zonal Railways to review and ensure that correct payment of pension/family pension to pre-2016 retired Running Staff/family members. Federation may please be kept advised of the action taken in the matter.
DA/As above
Yours faithfully,
(Dr.M. Raghavaiah)
General Secretary