NEW DELHI: The Centre, while notifying the Terms of Reference for the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC), indicated that it did not intend to go back to unfunded and non-contributory pension.
The notification comes amid the ongoing protest and agitation by a large section of central government employees, who were recruited since 2004, demanding the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) instead of the two later versions – the NPS and the UPS, which are contributory in nature.
A comparative review of the Terms of Reference for the 8th CPC and the 7th CPC reveals that there is only one difference: the government, in the latest version, has inserted an element suggesting that the pay panel should also keep in view the impact of “unfunded cost of non-contributory pension scheme” while finalising its recommendations to the government.
While finalising the Terms of Reference for the 7th CPC, led by Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur, the government had asked the pay panel to examine, review, evolve and recommend changes that are desirable and feasible regarding the principles that should govern the emoluments structure including salary, allowances and other facilities/benefits, in cash or kind, having regard to rationalisation and simplification therein as well as the specialised needs of various departments, agencies and services, in respect to the six counts.
They included Central Government employees -- industrial and non-industrial, personnel belonging to the All India Services, personnel of the Union Territories, officers and employees of the Indian Audit and Accounts department, members of the regulatory bodies (excluding the RBI) set up under the Acts of Parliament and officers and employees of the Supreme Court.
Notably, the government did not mention the ‘unfunded cost of non-contributory pension’, which has now found a place in the Terms of Reference for the 8th CPC headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai.
The 8th CPC has its ToR on five counts, which include the economic conditions in the country and the need for fiscal prudence, the need to ensure that adequate resources are available for developmental expenditure and welfare measures, the unfunded cost of non-contributory pension schemes, the likely impact of the recommendations on the finances of the State Governments, which usually adopt the recommendations with some modifications and the prevailing emolument structure, benefits and working conditions available to employees of Central Public Sector Undertakings and private sector.
Keeping these Terms of Reference in view, many employees in the government and also pensioners, who are covered under the Old Pension scheme, feel that this time, the government’s focus, while giving directions to the pay panel, is not on the staff members or the pensioners, but the overall fiscal health of the country.
"Asking the Justice Desai-led panel to assess the impact of ‘unfunded cost of non-contributory pension’ is ominous, and all of us who are getting pension, need to watch for this clause," said a retired Indian Administrative (IAS) Service officer.
Another retired IAS officer said, “This time, there is a specific new red flag in consideration of unfunded costs of the non-contributory pension scheme. Now, watch out for it, as the government has recently made amendments to the pension rules.”
