Letter to Fin Minister about Joint Notes on Pension

C N Venugopalan Ex-Manager Union Bank of India	“Nandanam” Kesari Junction N Paravoor Kerala 683 513
Phone: 0484 2447994 Cell:9447747994 e-mail:ceeyenvee@gmail.com

No.1011029 29^th November, 2010

The Honourable Minister for Finance, Regd. Ack Due

Ministry of Finance,

Government of India,

New Delhi - 110 001

Most Respected Sir,

Joint Note dated 27^th April, 2010 on Pension signed by Indian Banks Association and

Bank Unions and denial of Pension for the nine years by Union Bank of India

I inform that I have not been paid Pension by Union Bank of India, a public sector bank for the past nine years illegally. It has now offered to pay pension to me from 27^th November, 2009 as per the Joint Note on Pension signed on 27^th April, 2010 by Indian Banks Association and Bank Unions for extending a fresh option albeit my eligibility to get it from 20^th April, 2001, on which date I retired from the Bank. The communication has been given vide Staff Circular No. 5690 dated 27^th August, 2010 and states that sanction of the Government is accorded for implementing the terms of the Joint Note.

I had earlier brought to your kind notice the anomalies in the Joint Note vide my letter No. 100815 dated 15^th August, 2010 and subsequent letter No.10095 dated 5^th September, 2010 requesting to elucidate clarification from Indian Banks Association (IBA) on various items and for rectification of the anomalies. Since I am yet to hear anything from you or from IBA, I once again bring the matters for your kind consideration. .

I state in this regard that Union Bank of India, by publication in official Gazette dated 13^th July, 2002, amended Regulation 28 of the Pension Regulations with retrospective effect from 1^st September, 2000 and circulated the amendment vide Staff Circular No. 4904 dated 8^th October, 2002 to read it as under:

“Superannuation Pension shall be granted to an employee who has retired on his attaining the age of superannuation specified in the Service Regulations or Settlements. Provided that , with effect from 1^st day of September, 2000, pension shall also be granted to an employee who opts to retire before attaining the age of superannuation , but after rendering service for a minimum period of 15 years in terms of any scheme that may be framed for such purpose by the Board with the approval of the Government.”

In terms of this amendment, with effect from 1^st day of September, 200, an employee going out of the Bank through any scheme framed by the Bank is entitled to pension and the condition in the Joint Note for paying pension from 27^th November, 2009 only is inconsistent with the Regulation No.28 which is in force. The Joint Note between IBA and Unions can not override the Gazette Notification and hence the provision in restraint of paying pension from date of retirement to the date 27^th November, 2009 is to be scrapped as it is illegal. Whereas my counterparts who retired from the pension segment are paid pension from the date of retirement, non payment of the benefit to me will be highly discriminatory and in infringement of the Constitutional ethos. The loss one officer who retired in 2001 would sustain will be in the range of `.8.00 to `.10.00 lakhs, if the pension from the date of retirement is not given. Banks that spend extravagantly on publicity and the executives drawing huge salary and perquisites are attempting to feed themselves on the pittance payable to the poor retired senior citizens who worked for banks to make what they are now. Government giving assent to the Joint Note with this condition would be going unconstitutional and as such should invariably take a strong exception of the action of IBA in denying pension from retirement date.

As per clause D of the Joint Note, it is seen that on cost considerations, IBA remained unwilling to extend fresh option for pension and brought pressure on Unions to consent to alternative proposals of sharing the pension cost. Contributory Pension has been introduced in Banks with effect from 1^st April, 2010 and this makes it very vivid and underlines that the Pension Scheme in force till this date is non-contributory. Clause 1 of the Joint Notes stipulates recovery of 2.8 times revised Pay of existing employees for extending the benefit of fresh option to them. This recovery is discriminatory since identical employees in the pension segment are extended the benefit of pension without any such payment. Previously, in earlier bipartite settlements, the load factor of wage hike had been reckoned and after appropriating a portion towards Pension Fund, the balance alone was distributed among employees in pension segment and CPF segment uniformly.

Banks have not made the contributions out of the load factor for Pension after each settlement in tandem with the salary hike given and deficit, if any, in the Pension Fund was a contribution of the managements themselves. Pension Regulations states that the Pension Fund is to be built up with employer’s contributions at the rate of 10 percent of Pay and Special Allowances of members and do not envisage any contribution by the employees. As such, the attempt made through the Joint Note to raise a contribution from employees is unwarranted. The failure in making the stipulated contributions to Pension Fund and siphoning of the establishment expenses as profits for distribution as dividend is perhaps the biggest scam on Pension Funds of banks resorted to by Public Sector and Private Sector banks alike which attracts immediate investigation. Profits have been inflated to mislead the investors in stock markets, resulting in inflated share prices and public deceit. If appropriate corrigendum steps are not initiated, it may eventually lead to a banking catastrophe on a later date when petitions in various courts filed by retired employees for pension and arrears are decided in their favour.

Item No.3 (c) of the joint Note on page 3 envisages recovery of 56 percent of CPF and interest paid on retirement from the retired employees for granting them option afresh. The absence of a provision for contribution from employees in the government sanctioned Pension Scheme makes the recovery illegal and it is a heinous attempt on the part of banks that are very sound for reaching out to the bowls of the retired who are senior citizens, now devoid of employment and income for meeting their establishment expenses. When identical people who retired from pension segment are paid Pension without any recovery from them, it also results in discrimination. The collection is moreover uniform for all those retired up to March, 2010 with the result that one who retired in March, 2010 and has not at all enjoyed the benefit of money and one who retired in 1996 and has enjoyed the benefit of money for fourteen years will have to pay the same percentage of levy. Those retired earlier are burdened with `. 1.50 lakhs t`.2.00 lakhs only whereas it will work out up to `. 6.00 to `.7.00 lakhs for those retired recently. In the case of another who retired in April, 2010 or afterwards, who has to contribute 2.8 times revised pay for November 2007 only, the burden works out to less than `.1.00 lakh. This makes the Joint Note irrational altogether on implementation part and takes things to the nadir of ethics.

In chapter 7 of the Joint Note, it is stated that “officers who ceased to be in service on or after 29^th September, 1995 in case of Nationalised Banks / 26^th March 1996 in case of Associate Banks of State Bank of India on account of voluntary retirement under special scheme after rendering service for a minimum period of 15 years, shall be eligible to exercise option to join the pension scheme subject to terms and conditions mentioned for retiring officers opting for joining the scheme”. But the officers who went out through the Exit Option scheme floated in Associate Banks in 2006 are not extended the facility of fresh option in gross violation of this chapter. This shows clearly that the Joint Note itself is not implemented properly. Those who retired through VRS 2000 and are paid 60 months pay and allowances as special compensation are given option. But those who served for longer periods and are paid lesser compensation of 36 months salary under exit option, which is also an identical scheme floated by banks, are denied option strangely in Associate Banks of SBI. This carries great anomaly with it and is to be refined.

Individual banks including my employer Union Bank of India are allowing commutation of Pension not on the basis of age on the date of actual retirement and takes into account the age on the date of fresh option. This too is quite discriminatory and creates two types of pensioners to the disadvantage of those who are granted option now. The norms stipulated in respect of commutation of Pension are to be made uniform.

The Joint Notes entered into between IBA and Unions can confer any benefit on a third party. But it can not take away the subsisting benefit of such third party with out his consent. The retired had not at all authorized unions to negotiate on their behalf and to surrender their subsisting rights. The Government nod to the most irrational Joint Note on Pension containing brittle clauses makes the Government also a party to the discrimination and infringement of the constitutional provisions of equality and uniform treatment of people of all manners alike. In my opinion, IBA that has signed the Joint Note and obtained the assent of the Hon’ble Finance Minister has misled him through a wrong path that would result in breach of the oath of office taken by him to treat people of all manners alike since the document is pervasively vitiated by elements of discrimination.

Pension is an already sanctioned benefit which was taken away by banks through unfair and illegal means from the employees. When the final Regulations infused in it a clause providing for forfeiture of entire past service, which may entail loss of CPF as also Pension, many employees were forced to stay away from opting and when this clause was later deleted in 1999, fresh option that was legally mandatory to be extended was not given. I had exercised an option for pension on 30 09 1994 in terms of draft Regulations which the Bank revoked later notwithstanding the final and irrevocable nature of the option and want of a procedure for revocation anywhere in the Regulations. While attempting to make illegal recoveries now for the fresh option, IBA should think what banks would have done if each employee opted for Pension when initially offered.

The items to be reviewed in respect of the Joint Note that implanted fresh anomalies in Pension Regulations in the process of rectification of the single anomaly of not extending a fresh option when it was legally due in 1999 are summarized below:

1. Whether Banks have, from time to time, made into the Pension Fund the stipulated contribution of 10 percent of Pay and Special Allowances as employer’s share in respect of all those who joined the Pension Fund during the period from 1995 or whether a scam on Pension Fund has taken place in Banks on this score

2. Is there any justification in:

a) Raising a contribution from the work force when Pension Regulations in force do not contain a provision for it and envisages contribution from employer alone, which is in lieu of the CPF otherwise payable as per EPF Act?

b) Not paying the Pension to the retired from the date of their retirement to 27^th November, 2009 when similar people have been paid such pension

c) Raising a uniform levy of 56 percent of CPF (paid at the time of retirement) when similar people are paid pension without the contribution

d) Raising 2.8 times revised pay for November, 2007 from employees now opting for pension when similar people are extended the benefit of option without such contribution

e) Denying the benefit of option to a segment in Associate Banks of SBI that went out through Exit Option Scheme which is also on all fours with the Special VRS Scheme

f) Whether IBA and Unions are having powers to agree upon and implement their Joint Note overriding the Gazette Notification dated 13^th July, 2002 in relation to amendment to Regulation No. 28 thereby overstepping the Government

I request you to please once again screen the Joint Note that catapults all legal nitty-gritty forthwith and to scrap the illegal provisions in it as otherwise it brings shame to the whole governance. Necessary corrigendum steps to establish righteousness may be taken for doing away with the recovery of 2.8 times revised November, 2007 pay in the case of those in service, recovery of 56 percent of CPF and denial of pension from the date of retirement to the arbitrary and irrelevant date of 27^th November, 2009 in the case of the retired etc. Pension option may be extended to all those who have requisite qualifying service of 15 years irrespective of different modes of separation which have the same effect on the employer and employee. The implementation of the Joint Notes has already given rise to writ petitions in as many as eight High Courts so far which prima facie shows the infirmities contained in it. I request that I may please be given a reply to this letter at the earliest detailing the steps initiated for removing anomalies in response to it. A direction may please be given to Union Bank of India, my employer to pay me pension from the date of retirement and extending commutation benefit based on the date of retirement and sans all illegal recoveries mentioned above. All the illegal and irrational clauses contained in the Joint Note may please be scrapped so that the prestige of the Government is not undermined by IBA.

Thanking You,

Yours faithfully,

C N Venugopalan

From the website of Allbankingsolutions

Background to Letter of Honourable Justice V R Krishna Iyer

Just after the conclusion of the 9th Bipartite Settlement we have uploaded an article named (YOU CAN CLICK THE LINK TO READ THAT ARTICLE) "Honourable V R Krishna Iyer Supported the Cause of PF optees And Wrote to Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh (uploaded on 05/05/2010)". This was the time when union leaders were under tremendous pressure and trying to defend themselves for caving into IBA's demand of recovery of 2.8 times of the salary of November, 2007, only by PF optees. They were trying to mislead the members on the plea that it was illegal to ask Pension Optees to contribute and PF optees were at fault for not opting the Pension in mid 1990s. Whereas the correct position was that these leaders did not even thought of consulting any legal counsels (as there was no time on the night of 26th and 27 April night), and they meekly just caved in to what was insisted by IBA.

The disclosure of the details of what happened on the night of 26th and 27th April, 2010 on our website further sent shock waves across the union leaders. CLICK HERE TO READ THAT ARTICLE : (BEFI SPILLS THE BEANS - WHAT HAPPENED BEHIND THE CURTAIN BETWEEN 13TH APRIL AND 27TH APRIL, 2010 (uploaded on 07/05/2010). From this article it was clear that union leaders actually did not apply any mind on the legal issues but merely agreed to what IBA asked for.

It appears the above two articles sent almost all the union leaders across the country into damage control mode. They started blaming each other and tried to defend themselves. Not even a single union leaders have issued any clarification on the arguments raised by Honourable Justice V R Krishna Iyer. They have neither disclosed any legal opinion that they obtained (if any), nor made public if any discussions were held on such legal issues at the meeting with IBA. When they failed to convince members, they started spreading various rumors.

Recently, we received a mail from Mr Venugopal (who is the original initiator of the letter to Prime Minister by Honourable V R Krishna Iyer), wherein he informed us that rumors are in the banking circle (most likely spread by unions other than BEFI), wherein AllBankingSolutions.com is being accused of that "it has been done at the instance of BEFI". It was very painful for us to be accused of such charges. We immediately confirmed him that "we have not published the contents of the letters at the instance of any union".

He appreciated our stand and sent us some more documents for sharing with the banking community.

Now, first of all let us try to understand the issue. Mr C N Venugopalan, is an Ex-Manager, Union Bank of India & Ex-Vice President UBI Retired officers’ Association (Kerala) He has been fighting lonely for last many years for the rights of the bankers. As he failed to get justice at various forums (we will be soon uploading some of the the letters sent by him to various authorities on our website), he addressed a letter dated 16th September, 2008, to Prime Minister of India, and approached Honourable V R Krishna Iyer, (one of the highest revered justice of Supreme Court, and known for landmark judgments at Supreme Court) and appraised him about the issues. Once Honourable Iyer got convinced that injustice is being done to the bankers, he was kind enough to wrote a covering letter dated 17th September, 2008 to the petition of Mr Venugopalan to Prime Minister of India. [The contents of this covering letter we have uploaded under the above referred article].

Now the questions comes, how does BEFI comes to picture? Who is spreading the rumors that AllBankingSolutions.com has uploaded the letter of Justice Iyer at the instance of BEFI? By this article, we request BEFI to issue clarification on this issue. It is a sad state of affairs that when the so called "retired and tired" union leaders have failed miserably to get a reasonably fair hike for the bankers, they are accusing and misleading others for bring the truth before the members.

We would like to assure our readers that we are working independently and are not influenced by any group / union / association etc. We write on the website the views of the readers and what we feel is in the interest of the bankers. We are not afraid of criticism but we would like to request everybody that they should not believe the rumors. Union leaders may not agree with our views but hard facts can not be denied. The material received by us from any circle is reviewed and placed on our website. We have placed a good number of circulars issued by various unions on website, but that does not mean that we are influenced by such unions. If any top union leader feels that contents of our website are biased, let him send his views. We will upload those views also. But please do not spread rumors and mislead the bankers.

Now we would like to tell our readers that we will be uploading the letters of Mr Venugopalan, soon so that readers who wish to fight can benefit from such views. Wait and Watch.

With good wishes to all our readers.

KANPUR CONVENTION_ABBKJSS

A Kanpur Convention - A Grand Success

by admin » Tue Oct 12, 2010 3:40 pm

CONVENTION OF AKHIL BHARTIYA BANK KARMI JAGRUNK SANGHARSH SANGH HELD AT KANPUR ON 10.10.2010-A HISTORIC SUCCESS

As scheduled, Convention of Akhil Bhartiya Jagruk Sangharsh Sangh was held at Rajasthan Bhavan, Kanpur on 10.10.2010. The Convention started at 10.10 a.m. by offering prayers to Lord. Representatives from various parts of the Country participated in the Convention. The Hall was jam packed. Veteran Trade Union Leaders of Kanpur commented that they have not seen such a huge presence of bank employees in last few years. It is significant to point out that Bipartite Signatories from AIBEA were also present in the City to address the Conference of their affiliate from Punjab & Sind Bank. In past whenever these leaders have been in Kanpur, Bank Employees used to present themselves to hear these leaders. This is perhaps the first time that Bank Employees prefer to stay away from these leaders and attended the Convention of the Sangh to make it grand success.

Convenor of the Convention Kamlesh Chaturvedi read out the gist of the material sent by Shri Venugopal who has been first to bring to the notice of the bank employees the anomalies of the Pension Settlement. Kamlesh Chaturvedi first spoke about the contribution of Shri Venugopal Ji and the sacrifice he has made by espousing the cause of bank employees and creating awareness amongst the bank employees. Bank Employees shouted slogans-“Venugopal Zindabad”

Shri Satish Chandra Mahendra, National Convenor while speaking at the Convention informed the progress of the Sangh since its formation in May 2010. He hailed the role played by Canara Bank Workers Union, Chennai and its leadership. He read out the Message sent by Sri Ganpati Subramanium.

Shri J.K. Sawhney, General Secretary, All India Punjab National Bank Workers Federation gave information about the Writs filed by its affiliates at Hon’ble Allahabad High Court and Hon’ble Delhi High Court. He discussed the Judgment of Hon’ble Delhi High Court with regard to reimbursement of Hospitalization and Medical Expenses to retired employees.

Shri Brijendra Shukla, ex-Joint General Secretary of NCBE and ex-All India President of NCBE affiliate in United Bank condemned the UFBU leadership for agreeing to share the cost of Pension against the provisions of Pension Regulations 1995. He appealed the UFBU leadership to rethink on the whole matter and fight for the re-opening of the Bipartite Settlement as has been done on two previous occasions in the past instead of making it a prestige issue in the broader interest of Unity of Bank Employees.

Shri Prabal Pratap Singh, General Secretary, Uttar Pradesh Bank Workers Organisation affiliated to Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh informed the delegates about the deliberation made at the Manglore Conference of National Organisation of Bank Workers and congratulated activists of Bank Karmi Jagruk Sangharsh Sangh for their continued agitation and creating awareness amongst the bank employees.

Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal, Hon’ble Minister of State for Coal, Statistics and Programme Implementation (Independent Charge) arrived at the Convention at 1.45 P.M. Shri Kamlesh Chaturvedi speaking before the Hon’ble Minister apprised him about the issues confronting the Bank Employees with regard to less wages as compared to Government and other Sector Officers and Employees, Anomalies of Pension Settlement dated 27.04.2010, Violation of Abolition and Regulation of Contract Labour Act, Non-conversion of part time Sweepers as Full Time, Employment of Adhoc, Casual and Temporary Employees and continuing them as such forever by indulging into unfair labour practice, forcing employees to sit late without payment of overtime, discriminatory implementation of provisions of Gratuity Act w.e.f. 24.05.2010 instead of 01.01.2006 as in the Case of Government Employees, Ban on Compassionate Appointment, Pendency of case of Canteen Employees from Punjab National Bank before Hon’ble Supreme Court etc. He apprised the Hon’ble Minister about the inability of existing trade unions in forcing the management to implement provisions of Law and Government of India Guidelines. He appealed Hon’ble Minister to come forward and take up the matter at the appropriate level of the Government of India to do justice with Bank Employees.

Sri Sriprakash Jaiswal speaking on the occasion said that he is in complete agreement with the demands raised. He said time keeps changing. At one time Bank Employees have to undergo bad time. Then their trade union movement flourished and they secured better wages than Government and other Sector Employees and now again Bank Employees have become poorly paid employees. He said that while work methods and work technology will have considerable bearing on the Banking Industry’s ability to gyrate the wheels of progress, it is the human factor, that is, involvement, commitment and dedication of its vast work force which will ordain the future course of banking. If the bank employees are not given fair treatment in terms of wages and other conditions which are available to others it would be paving way not only to injustice but forcing talents of the country not to join banks and look for jobs somewhere else. He assured the Bank Employees that he is with them as far as their genuine demands are concerned. He suggested that Sangh must select 5 representatives and he will accompany them to plead their demands before the Finance Minister.

The news about the convention was widely displayed in all the local channels and here are the news which have appeared in important news papers of Kanpur Cit y.