Letter to Principal Secretary (Finance), GoP, by Gurkirpal Singh Sekhon against Wrong Fixation of Pension of Professors/Principals, & Readers/Lecturers (SG)

CHANDIGARH:
12th February 2011.


To
The Principal Secretary (Finance),
Punjab Government,
The Secretariat,
Chandigarh.

                                                                 

Subject: WRONG, INCONSISTENT & DISCRIMINATORY FIXATION OF PENSION OF PRE-2006  RETIRED PROFESSORS VIDE  Punjab Government, Department of Finance  Letter No.3/39/09-3FPPC/1568 Dated 30/12/2010 on the subject of Implementation of the Recommendations of the Fifth Punjab Pay Commission -- Revision of Pension of pre 01-01-2006 Pensioners/Family Pensioners/Recipients of Extraordinary Pension etc.

Sir

I would like to bring to your notice the injustice done to Pre-2006 Retired Professor Pensioners vide letter No.3/39/09-3FPPC/ 1568 dated 30-12-2010, issued as a sequel to letter No.3/39/09-3FPPC/201 dated 22-2-2010, wherein para 4.2 of letter No. 3/23/09-3FPPC/885 dated 17-8-2009 was partially modified.

As far as Pre-2006 Retired Professor Pensioners are concerned, the net effect of this partial modification of para 4.2 is nil because of the illogical, inconsistent and discriminatory application of the said para as shall become evident presently. A cursory look at the letter of 30-12-2010 brings out that it has been an exercise in futility, since status quo ante 22-02-2010 is not altered at all to the benefit of the Pre-2006 Retired Professor Pensioners unlike for other Pre-2006 Government Pensioners. Put in other words, the application of para 4.2 of letter of 17-08-2009 in letter of 30-12-2010, instead of the modified para 4.2 of letter of 22-02-2010, has worked to the detriment of the Pre-2006 Retired Professor Pensioners  when compared with the other 32 categories of Pre-2006 GoP Pensioners.

2. What is NOT obvious is that the Pre-2006 Retired Professor Pensioners stand DOWNGRADED both in relation to their pre-revised scales as also grade pay in the revised pay bands, as is evident in the following Table.

                                                                                              NOTE: The pension of Pre-2006 Retired Professor Pensioners, taken from Annexure B of 30-12-2010 letter, is interpolated with that of Pensioners at Serial Nos. 31 & 32 taken from Annexure A of 22-02-2010 letter, to bring out the disparity.

Sr No	Pre-revised scales of pay w.e.f. 1.1.1996	Revised Pay Structure w.e.f. 1.1.2006			Pension (50% of the initial pay in col 5)	Family Pension (30% of the initial pay in col 5)
		Pay Bands	Grade Pay	Initial Pay
31	16350-20100	37400-67000	8900	48590	24295	14577
	16400-22400	37400-67000	10000	Professor	23700	14220
32	18600-22100	37400-67000	10000	54700	27350	16410

                                                                                           

I may add that this inter se chaos did not exist under the letter of 17-08-2009.

3. Now, para 4.2 as given in Punjab Government Finance Department letter No. 3/23/09-3FPPC/885 dated 17-8-2009 reads as follows:

4.2 The fixation of pension will be subject to the provision that the revised pension, in no case, shall be lower than fifty percent of the minimum of the pay in the pay band plus grade pay corresponding to the pre-revised pay scale from which the pensioner had retired. This will be reduced pro-rata if the qualifying service of the person falls short of 33 years.

Since the fixation of one’s pension depends on the minimum of the pay in the pay band plus grade pay corresponding to the pre-revised pay scale from which the pensioner had retired, the entitlement of Pre-2006 Retired Professor Pensioners under this para is given in the Table below and this is what precisely they had already been drawing before the issue of 30-12-2010 letter:

MINIMUM PENSION OF PRE-2006 PUNJAB GOVERNMENT COLLEGE PENSIONERS [TEACHERS & EQUIVALENT]   BASED ON REVISED PAY BANDS AND GRADE PAYS VIDE  PARA 4.2 OF PUNJAB GOVERNMENT LETTER No. 3/23/09-3FPPC/885 DATED 17-8-2009 & GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION (EDUCATION DEPARTMENT) NOTIFICATION No.10/3/09-3Edu.1/3321 DATED 2-9-2009

Sr No	Pre-revised scales of pay	Pay Bands	Grade Pay	Minimum Pension  (50% of the sum of min. of PB+GP)	Minimum Family Pension (30% of the sum of min. of PB+GP)
1	2	3	4	5	6
1	16400-22400	37400-67000	10000	23700	14220
2	12000-18300	37400-67000	9000	23200	13920
3	12000-18300	15600-39100	8000	11800	7080
4	10000-15200	15600-39100	7000	11300	6780
5	8000-13500	15600-39100	6000	10800	6480

4. In the letter of 22-02-2010, the partially modified para 4.2 reads as follows:

4.2 The fixation of pension will be subject to the provision that the revised pension, in no case shall be less than 50% of the initial pay shown in column 8 of the schedule of the Punjab Civil Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2009, against relevant Pay Band and Grade Pay corresponding to the pre-revised scale of pay in which the pensioner had last worked. However, such pension will be suitably reduced pro-rata, where the qualifying service of the person falls short of 33 years.

I am reproducing below the Schedule given in the GoP NOTIFICATION No.5/10/09-5FPI/207 DATED THE 27^th May, 2009:

Schedule/General Conversion Table

                                                           

S  N	Pre-revised		Revised				Initial Pay
	Group	Pay Scale	Pay Band	Group	Corresponding Pay Bands	Grade Pay
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	D	2520-4140	PB 1	D	4900-10680	1300	6200
2	D	2720-4200	PB 1	D	4900-10680	1400	6700
3	D	2820-4400	PB 1	D	4900-10680	1650	6950
4	C	3120-5160	PB 2	C	5910-20200	1900	7810
5	C	3120-6200	PB 2	C	5910-20200	1950	7960
6	C	3330-6200	PB 2	C	5910-20200	2000	8240
7	C	4020-6200	PB 2	C	5910-20200	2400	9880
8	C	4400-7000	PB 2	C	5910-20200	2800	11170
9	C	4550-7220	PB 2	C	5910-20200	3000	11470
10	C	5000-8100	PB 3	C	10300-34800	3200	13500
11	C	5480-8925	PB 3	C	10300-34800	3600	14430
12	C	5800-9200	PB 3	B	10300-34800	3800	14590
13	B	6400-10640	PB 3	B	10300-34800	4200	16290
14	B	7000-10980	PB 3	B	10300-34800	4400	17420
15	B	7220-10980	PB 3	B	10300-34800	4600	18030
16	B	7220-11320	PB 3	B	10300-34800	4800	18250
17	A	7220-11660	PB 3	A	10300-34800	5000	18450
18	A	7880-11660	PB 3	A	10300-34800	5400	20300
19	A	7880-13500	PB 4	A	15600-39100	5400	21000
20	A	9200-13900	PB 4	A	15600-39100	5700	22820
21	A	9750-14700	PB 4	A	15600-39100	6000	24140
22	A	10025-15100	PB 4	A	15600-39100	6600	25250
23	A	12000-15100	PB 4	A	15600-39100	7400	31120
24	A	12000-15500	PB 4	A	15600-39100	7600	31320
25	A	12000-16350	PB 4	A	15600-39100	7800	31520
26	A	13125-16350	PB 4	A	15600-39100	8200	32620
27	A	13500-16800	PB 4	A	15600-39100	8400	33510
28	A	14300-18150	PB 5	A	37400-67000	8600	46000
29	A	14300-18600	PB 5	A	37400-67000	8700	46100
30	A	14300-20100	PB 5	A	37400-67000	8800	46200
31	A	16350-20100	PB 5	A	37400-67000	8900	48590
32	A	18600-22100	PB 5	A	37400-67000	10000	54700

THE INITIAL PAY, AS GIVEN IN THE ABOVE SCHEDULE/GENERAL CONVERSION TABLE, IS EQUAL TO THE REVISED BASIC PAY [TOTAL OF PAY IN THE PAY BAND AND GRADE PAY] IN THE REVISED PAY SCALE CORRESPONDING TO THE BASIC PAY AT THE FIRST STAGE OF THE PRE-REVISED PAY SCALE TO WHICH AN INCUMBENT IS ENTITLED ON 01-01-2006. THIS IS EVIDENT FROM FITMENT TABLES No.1 TO No.32 ANNEXED TO THE SAID PUNJAB GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE) NOTIFICATION No.5/10/09-5FPI/207 DATED THE 27^th May, 2009.                                             

To illustrate the point, I am giving below only Fitment Table No. 32 from the Notification No.5/10/09-5FPI/207 of 27^th May, 2009 from which the above Schedule has been taken.

FITMENT TABLE 32

[See rules 3(d) and 7]

Pre-revised Pay Scale	Revised Pay Structure
	Revised Pay Scale+ Grade pay
Rs 18600-22100	Rs37400--67000+Rs.10000
Basic Pay	Revised Pay
	Pay in the Pay Band	Grade Pay	Revised Basic Pay
1	2	3	4
18600	44700	10000	54700
19100	46050	10000	56050
19600	46050	10000	56050
20100	47440	10000	57440
20600	47440	10000	57440
21100	48870	10000	58870
21600	48870	10000	58870
22100	50340	10000	60340

Quite clearly, the initial pay shown in column 8 of the Schedule against Serial No. 32 [Rs 54700] is the Revised Basic Pay [Rs 54700] in the Pay in the Pay Band plus Grade Pay, shown in column 4 corresponding to the first stage of Basic Pay in the Pre-revised Scale [Rs 18600].

To prepare a General Conversion Table for Pre-2006 Government College pensioners [teachers & equivalent] on the pattern of the Schedule, we need to refer to  Annexure-I and Annexure-II of Punjab Government Department of Higher Education (Education Department) NOTIFICATION No.10/3/09-3Edu.1/3321 2-9-2009. Annexure-I gives Fitment Tables and Annexure-II para 2 gives details of new pay structure of various categories of teachers. The pay structure for different categories of teachers and equivalent positions is as indicated below:-

(a) Assistant Professor/Associate Professors/Professors in Colleges & Universities

(i) Persons entering the teaching profession in Universities and Colleges shall be designated as Assistant Professors and shall be placed in the Pay Band of Rs. 15600-39100 with AGP of Rs. 6000. Lecturers already in service in the pre-revised scale of Rs. 8000-13500, shall be re-designated as Assistant Professors with the said AGP of Rs. 6000.

(vi) The pay of the incumbents to the posts of Lecturer (senior scale) (i.e. the un-revised scale of Rs. 10,000-15200) shall be re-designated as Assistant Professor, and shall be fixed at the appropriate stage in Pay Band of Rs. 15600-39100 based on their present pay, with AGP of Rs. 7000.

(viii) Posts of Associate Professor shall be in the Pay Band of    Rs. 37400-67000, with AGP of Rs. 9000. Directly recruited Associate Professors shall be placed in the Pay Band of Rs. 37400-67000 with an AGP of Rs. 9000, at the appropriate stage in the Pay Band in terms of the conditions of appointment.

(ix) Incumbent Readers and Lecturers (Selection Grade) who have completed 3 years in the current pay scale of Rs. 12000-18300 on 1.1.2006 shall be placed in Pay Band of Rs. 37400-67000 with AGP Pay of Rs. 9000 and shall be re-designated as Associate Professor.

(x) Incumbent Readers and Lecturers (Selection Grade) who had not completed three years in the pay scale of Rs. 12000-18300 on 1.1.2006 shall be placed at the appropriate stage in the Pay Band of        Rs. 15600-39100 with AGP of Rs. 8000 till they complete 3 years of service in the grade of Lecturer (Selection Grade)/Reader, and thereafter shall be placed in the higher Pay Band of Rs.37400-67000 and accordingly re-designated as Associate Professor.

(xiii) . . . The Pay Band for the post of Professors shall be      Rs. 37400-67000 with AGP of Rs. 10000.

Using this information, we can prepare a schedule-like schema in the form of the following Table to work out the initial pay of the five categories of teachers & equivalent:

S N	Pre-revised		Revised				Initial Pay
	Designation	Pay Scale	Fitment Table	Designation	Corresponding Pay Bands	Grade Pay
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	Lecturer	8000-13500	See Table 1*	Asst Prof	15600-39100	6000	21600
2	Lecturer (Senior Scale)	10000-15200	See Table 2*	Asst Prof (Senior Scale)	15600-39100	7000	25600
3	Lecturer (SG)	12000-18300	See Table 3*	Asst Prof (SG)	15600-39100	8000	30320
4	Lecturer(SG) with 3 years	12000-18300	See Table 4*	Asst Prof (SG) with 3 years	37400-67000	9000	46400
5	Professor	16400-22400	See Table 5*	Professor	37400-67000	10000	50890

^* These are the Fitment Tables as given in Annexure-I of the GOVERNMENT OF PUNJAB DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION (EDUCATION DEPARTMENT) NOTIFICATION No.10/3/09-3Edu.1/3321 dated   2-9-2009.

5. The pension of Pre-2006 Government of Punjab pensioners based on the partially modified para 4.2 and the concept of initial pay as defined in column 8 of the Schedule is given in Annexure-A, which has been taken    from the letter of 22-02-2010:

Annexure-A

Revised Pension/Family Pension based on Pay Band and Grade Pay and Initial Pay corresponding to the pre-revised pay scales.(Referred to in para 4.2 of Punjab Government letter No. 3/23/09 -3FPPC/885 dated 17-8-2009 and letter No. 3/39/09-3FPPC/201 Dated  22^nd February, 2010)

Sr No	Pre-revised scales of pay w.e.f. 1.1.1996	Revised Pay Structure w.e.f. 1.1.2006			Pension (50% of the initial pay in col 5)	Family Pension (30% of the initial pay in col 5)
		Pay Bands	Grade Pay	Initial Pay
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
1	2520-4140	4900-10680	1300	6200	3500	3500
2	2720-4200	4900-10680	1400	6700	3500	3500
3	2820-4400	4900-10680	1650	6950	3500	3500
4	3120-5160	5910-20200	1900	7810	3905	3500
5	3120-6200	5910-20200	1950	7960	3980	3500
6	3330-6200	5910-20200	2000	8240	4120	3500
7	4020-6200	5910-20200	2400	9880	4940	3500
8	4400-7000	5910-20200	2800	11170	5585	3500
9	4550-7220	5910-20200	3000	11470	5735	3500
10	5000-8100	10300-34800	3200	13500	6750	4050
11	5480-8925	10300-34800	3600	14430	7215	4329
12	5800-9200	10300-34800	3800	14590	7295	4377
13	6400-10640	10300-34800	4200	16290	8145	4887
14	7000-10980	10300-34800	4400	17420	8710	5226
15	7220-10980	10300-34800	4600	18030	9015	5409
16	7220-11320	10300-34800	4800	18250	9125	5475
17	7220-11660	10300-34800	5000	18450	9225	5535
18	7880-11660	10300-34800	5400	20300	10150	6090
19	7880-13500	15600-39100	5400	21000	10500	6300
20	9200-13900	15600-39100	5700	22820	11410	6846
21	9750-14700	15600-39100	6000	24140	12070	7242
22	10025-15100	15600-39100	6600	25250	12625	7575
23	12000-15100	15600-39100	7400	31120	15560	9336
24	12000-15500	15600-39100	7600	31320	15660	9396
25	12000-16350	15600-39100	7800	31520	15760	9456
26	13125-16350	15600-39100	8200	32620	16310	9786
27	13500-16800	15600-39100	8400	33510	16755	10053
28	14300-18150	37400-67000	8600	46000	23000	13800
29	14300-18600	37400-67000	8700	46100	23050	13830
30	14300-20100	37400-67000	8800	46200	23100	13860
31	16350-20100	37400-67000	8900	48590	24295	14577
32	18600-22100	37400-67000	10000	54700	27350	16410

Note 1:- As per para 4.2 of Punjab Government letter No. 3/23/09-3FPPC/885 dated 17^th August 2009 as modified vide letter no. No.3/39/09-3FPPC/201 Dated 22^nd February, 2010, the revised pension of those pensioners who retired after completing maximum qualifying service (i.e. 33 years) before 1.1.2006 cannot be less than the pension indicated in the column 6 above (50% of the Initial Pay mentioned in column 5 above against relevant Pay Band and Grade Pay corresponding to the pre-revised scale of pay held by the pensioner s at the time of their retirement). The pension in column 6 will be reduced pro-rata, where the pensioner had less than the maximum required qualifying service (i.e. 33 years) for full pension as applicable on 1.1.2006 and in no case it will be less than Rs 3500/- p.m. In case the pension consolidated as per para 4.1 of Punjab Government letter No. 3/23/09-3FPPC/885 dated 17^th August 2009 is higher than the pension calculated in the manner above, the same (the higher pension) will be treated as Basic Pension. 

6. The pension of Pre-2006 Government College pensioners [teachers & equivalent], which should also have been worked out using the same principles as used for the above Annexure-A, is given in the following Table. 

                                     

Sr  No	Designation	Pre-revised scales of pay w.e.f. 1.1.1996	Revised Pay Structure w.e.f. 1.1.2006			Pension (50% of the initial pay in col 5)	Family Pension (30% of the initial pay in col 5)
			Pay Bands	Grade Pay	Initial Pay
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	Lecturer	8000-13500	15600-39100	6000	21600	10800	6480
2	Lecturer(Sr.Scale)	10000-15200	15600-39100	7000	25600	12800	7680
3	Lecturer(SG)	12000-18300	15600-39100	8000	30320	15160	9096
4	Lecturer(SG) with 3 or more years of service	12000-18300	37400-67000	9000	46400	23200	13920
5	Professor	16400-22400	37400-67000	10000	50890	25445	15267

7. Instead of following consistently the modified para 4.2 given in the letter of  22-02-2010 and the concept of initial pay as given in column 8 of the Schedule (Notification dated 27-05-2009] for Pre-2006 Government College pensioners     [teachers & equivalent] as explained above, the Government issued the following patently wrong, inconsistent, and discriminatory Annexure-B in its letter of 30-12-2010:

ANNEXURE-B

Revised Pension/Family Pension based on Pay Band, grade Pay and Initial Pay of teachers and equivalent cadres in colleges in the State with effect from 1^st January, 2006, corresponding  to the pre-revised pay scales.

(Refer to Punjab Government Notification No. 10/03/09-3Edu.1/3321 dated 2.9.009 and para 4.2 of Punjab Government letter No. 3/23/09-3FPPC/8885, dated 17^th August,2009 and letter No. 3/23/09- 3FPPC/201, dated 22^nd February, 2010).

Sr. No.	Name of the post	Pre-revised pay scale	Approved revised pay Band	Grade Pay	Minimum Pension  (50% of the sum of min. of PB+GP)	Minimum Family Pension (30% of the sum of min. of PB+GP)
1	Professor	16400-22400	37400-67000	10000	23700	14220
2	Lecturer    (S. G.) / Reader with 3 or more years of service)	12000-18300	37400-67000	9000	23200	13920
3	Lecturer    (S. G.)/ Reader	12000-18300	15600-39100	8000	11800	7080
4	Lecturer  (Sr. Scale)	10000-15200	15600-39100	7000	11300	6780
5	Lecturer	8000-13500	15600-39100	6000	10800	6480

 Note: The pension shown in column 6 is for maximum qualifying service of 33 years. In cases of pensioners, where qualifying service is less than 33 years, the pension shown shall be reduced pro-rata.

In this Annexure, even though lip service is paid to the initial pay, and reference made to letter No. 3/23/09-3FPPC/201, dated 22^nd February, 2010, the initial pay as given in column 8 of the Schedule has been replaced by the minimum of the Band Pay to the detriment of Pre-2006 Government College Pensioners [teachers & equivalent].

8. It is, therefore, requested that this discrimination be done away with as soon as possible by defining the Initial Pay in the same way as it is for other Pre-2006 Punjab Government Pensioners, and a fresh Annexure similar to the following issued to ensure and assure the Pre-2006 Government College pensioners [teachers & equivalent] that a different and discriminatory yard stick is not applied to them.

                                        

S N	Designation	Pre-revised scales of pay w.e.f. 1.1.1996	Revised Pay Structure w.e.f. 1.1.2006			Pension (50% of the initial pay in col 5)	Family Pension (30% of the initial pay in col 5)
			Pay Bands	Grade Pay	Initial Pay
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
1	Lecturer	8000-13500	15600-39100	6000	21600	10800	6480
2	Lecturer          (Senior Scale)	10000-15200	15600-39100	7000	25600	12800	7680
3	Lecturer(SG)	12000-18300	15600-39100	8000	30320	15160	9096
4	Lecturer(SG) with 3 years	12000-18300	37400-67000	9000	46400	23200	13920
5	Professor	16400-22400	37400-67000	10000	50890	25445	15267

9. The Pre-2006 Government College retired pensioners [teachers & equivalent] simply want to be treated like the other 32 categories of pre 2006 government pensioners BECAUSE THEY ARE COVERED BY THE SAME PUNJAB GOVERNMENT PENSION RULES AS ARE OTHER GOVERNMENT PENSIONERS like it has ALWAYS been the case when pay scales have been revised in 1996, 1986, and 1973.

Thanking you.

Yours faithfully,

[GURKIRPAL SINGH SEKHON],
1080 Sector 39-B, 
CHANDIGARH            

Phone: (0172)2688085, 
Cell: 9815043164