Employee and pension bodies demand One Rank One Pension for central civil staff

The 8th Pay Commission is holding discussions with various stakeholders for its report. Meanwhile, the demand for One Rank One Pension (OROP) for central civil employees has gained fresh momentum. Employee and pensioner associations say all central civil employees and pensioners in Levels 1 to 18 should be given OROP.

At present, OROP benefits go to armed forces personnel, retired judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, and the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). The Centre introduced the scheme for the armed forces in 2015, and the financial benefit was paid from July 1, 2014. The demand now is that the same arrangement be applied to civil employees.

C. Sreekumar, general secretary of AIDEF, raised the issue of disparity in pensions. In his view, employees who retired from the same post at different times end up with widely differing pensions. Employee associations argue that if OROP is implemented, pensions of employees with the same rank and the same length of service could become more equal.

Manjeet Singh Patel, president of the All India New Pension Scheme Employees Federation, has also expressed concern over the pension gap faced by older pensioners. He said that although earlier pay commissions improved pensions, employees who retired many years ago still face a pension gap.

According to Sreekumar, the 5th Pay Commission had proposed notional pay fixation to improve the pensions of employees who retired before 1986. It had also recommended that pension should not be less than 50 per cent of the revised pay scale for the post held at retirement. The 7th Pay Commission too had underlined the importance of pension parity to reduce the gap between old and new pensioners. Employee associations claim that notional pay fixation can bring older pensioners closer to the current pay structure.

AIDEF's demand is that in implementing OROP for civil employees, the pay structure at the time of retirement alone should not be considered. The employee's rank at retirement, the pay scale of that rank and the increments earned during service should also be taken into account. The association argues that if a post is upgraded after an employee retires, older pensioners should not be denied the revised benefits of that post.

AIDEF has recommended fixing pension at 50 per cent of notional pensionable pay. However, this is still only the employee association's recommendation. It is not certain that the 8th Pay Commission or the Central government has accepted it.

Employees and pensioners are now watching how the 8th Pay Commission treats the OROP demand for central civil employees, and what changes on pension parity its final recommendations suggest.