Revered,Respected & Hon.
Chief Justice of Supreme Court,
Sir,
Re:Court matters of Insurance Pensioners prolonged ---
your immediate intervention solicited
1) We wish to bring to your kind notice some crucial facts & developments in the long drawn out, tedious & tortuous legal battle with LIC & UOI about pensioners issues & problems,dragging on & on,for last 12 years & more.Sir,one can understand, if no decision has come from arbiters of Justice & Equity,the Pillars of our Democracy,HCs & SC,who are real Guardians & Protectors of the disadvantaged, the oppressed, the discriminated, Elders & Sr Citizens,one can have less grouse,but ,Sir, when ever so many Verdicts & Judgements have come, all in support of the Pensioners ,over a long period of time after submissions from all parties,You,as Chief Justice of India, as the Lighthouse of Justice ,must intervene to stem the prolonged delay & give directions to SC to call a spade a spade, issue writ or direction or mandamus to LIC/UOI to implement the Rajasthan HC judgement dt 12/1/2010 of Hon SJ Bhandari admitting both the writs of 6676/1998 on Dearness Relief to establish equality, as is for serving Employees,instead of truncated 50%DR ,as is being paid for pre-8/1997 pensioners, having crossed 76 yrs to 86 yrs already & losing a chunk of DR in these hard-hit days of inflation raging all along.
2)Sir, the 2nd writ admitted was CWP 654/2007 exclusively on pension upgradation substituting scales of pay as & when wage revision for employees take place, quoting many reputed case laws apart from the Magna Carta for pensioners in Nakara case,the 5-Judge SC Bench presided over by Hon CJ Chandrachud,an elucidation & dissertation by Learned & Hon SJ,Rajasthan HC ,pointing out gross anamolies & discrepancies in pension whereby 10 cadres below get more pension than the higher cadres retired few years before,that date of retirement is irrelevant, one cannot discriminate groups of pensioners as pre & post,all pensioners form one single homogeneous group only & particularly,when it is an Existing Pension scheme & not any New scheme,all pensioners assuredly deserve pension revision with every wage revision.Sir, many times it so happens, even after favourable verdicts,when Hon Judges fail to mention Effective date categorically, again a flurry &blizzard of supplementary legal activities are forced upon.So, DR from the date of discrimination ie pre-8/1997 pensioners & pension upgradation wef CWP 654/2007 date ie 1/1/2007 or earlier as per rules 1/1/2004, if allowed,will greatly enhance the value of judgement without any hassle of diverse interpretations.Sir.
3) It is not for us to point out or portray the ever so many judgements in favour of pensioners or the brilliant expositions from IV,V & VI Pay Commissions propounding the basis & fundamentals of granting pension upgradation with every wage revision,almost on similar lines as is being done for employees,Sir, we are still in IV PC mode Basic pension same & static as at 1/11/1993, 21 long years,majority of pensioners above age 70 ,especially in a democratic, egalitarian & Socialist pattern of Society,more so respecting & honouring the Sr Citizens & Super SrCitizens,who in their long, devoted & dedicated service of 35-40 yrs solidly laid the foundation, built a superstructure,rationalized principles & procedures of various departments in all tiers of the institution,hastened computerization & indeed,with all slings & arrows of outrageous misfortune of transfers,disturbance to family life & ever so many hazards of office ,yet, with a smile displaying empathy for policyholders & all stakeholders,created records, broke records enabling the Institution LIC shine brilliant & lustrous,Sir, really an economic TajMahal , Rock of Gibralter ,participating in all Nation building activities, helping Aam Aadmi,social security to the economically weaker section of society as no other institution could have done or can do,Sir, pumping money for all 5-Year plans touching every Section of society & even assisting Govt in preserving stock market balance, all these multi-dimensional activities earning accolades of praise from PM & FM even rightly asserting with a sense of glow –there can be NO BETTER 3-LETTER WORD THAN LIC--& Sir, then more so, we humble elders & Sr Citizens certainly associating ourselves with a sense of attachment & pride of profession & performance, can we not get a slice of the cake, with accepted principles tested & emerging from the fiery furnace of legal battle, with adjournments & postponements & vacation,but more after Appeal as also Review petitions were dismissed,4 Courts,10Judges have opined on similar lines, Punjab & Haryana HC certifying Hon SJ Rajasthan HC verdict & adding 12 % for the delay,Delhi HC acknowledging & adding “in rem” to all pensioners in same aggrieved category, SC clarificatory order dt 14 October, 2012 allowing retiral benefits from the date of eligibility, meaning date of retirement, what more is needed, Sir
4) More so after the 23/6/2010 National Litigation Policy announced by Law Minister,it will be suffocating if the golden & guardian principles are not followed or not implemented, thrown to the wind by the Powers that be, ascardinal principle in focus was to ensure Govts/Instns do not become compulsive litigants & No Appeals or Reviews are made by them, more so when it concerns retirement or pensionary benefits. In our case, not one victory but a series of victories,Sir.
5) Your Honour,pathetically we bring to your kind notice,with tears in our eyes that more than 12,000 pensioners have died out of app 48,000.All our letters, face to face meetings with the powers that be,& polite outbursts have evoked no response.Sad, death is treated as an event ,no human touch or understanding ! You & You alone can bring sense & semblance of accountability & responsibility,without which Umpire or Beacon light, country will deteriorate & institutions will be crippled, as it happens to day without a modicum of independent Corporate Governance,which must form the bedrock of decisions.
6) More than 14 years,money,labour, energy, inconveniences, delay, adjournments, court rules & procedures, adverse health,sacrifices,are being silently borne by pensioners, activists straining to maximum even in adversity, affecting their health. Lack of money power, lung power, muscle power, political power must be compensated & addressed only by High Courts & Supreme Court.Facts are clear as crystal, reason & logic of demands are powerful, no one can deny discrimination, violation of Fundamental Rights enshrined in constitution, Article 14,16 & 21 ,decades have rolled by, none to wipe the tears, demands are modest & legitimate, Court victories are galore & successive, one after another.
Lastly, it must not be forgotten & it can be rightly claimed, we Pensioners won the case & all was over perhaps on that bright day, 8th August 2013,
1) when our Petitioner Sri Asthanas IA 12 & 13 were admitted,
2) LIC SLPs 29956 & 29957/2011 were dismissed &
3) This proviso only went against us, as SC Bench gave LIC a fresh lease of life to file fresh SLPs with caution & warning delay may not be normally condoned, but ultimately when SC categorically ordered”NO STAY of Hon SJ Rajasthan HC orders dt 12/1/2010 & allied matters”,a clear indicator of their minds but condoned such an enormous delay of 6 months & 23 days on 30 September, 2013
7)
Sir,dispensers of justice must bring solace & comfort to the needy litigants with a spirit of zeal & zest & when justice is trampled upon,Courts must immediately step in & remedy the injustice perpetrated in any garb whatsoever. This will bring credit & glory to yourgoodself & indeed such valiant,original efforts will bring dividends to society & earn accolades for such drastic purification of the legal sytem where vital matters like these must be addressed & resolved with promptness & aplomb
8) You have done yeoman service in judicial sphere & matters of legal jurisprudence. You have adorned all posts with distinction.Your out-of-the-box remedy by disposing lacs of cases in Adalats in various courts bear standing testimony to your care & concern for the underdog.Your judgements involving all disciplines, Centre & State with high profile politicians, bureaucrats & businessmen clearly & candidly bear your intellectual imprints consisting of novel ideas. We would have very much liked to approach you earlier,but especially when SLPs after SLPs, converted as CAs masquerade & getting clubbed, proving detrimental to pensioners, your positive & assertive intervention will deliver the fruits of judgements ,which is being denied to us under one pretext or another.
We are small men, UIPs, UnImportant Persons. Symbol of the Balance is touching & revealing. Supreme Court, under your able, dynamic& progressive leadership & captaincy,even in this real hour of distress & frustration can prove Supreme. Sir, With folded hands we beg of you to bring this tortuous,expensive legal battle, which LIC/UOI can comfortably bear driving us to despair to a happy,positive & satisfactory conclusion. Please bring to closure these cases of ours, thereby giving Voice to the voiceless,Power to the powerless for which act of kindness, benevolence& empathy, we the Entire Insurance Pensioners Fraternity shall for ever be eternally grateful. We salute you & bow before you on this auspicious Vishu & Tamil New Years day heralding JAYA, earlier having ushered sprightly Holi, Ugadi & Baishaka.
Yours most respectfully & faithfully,
R.B.KISHORE,VP,
ALL INDIA RETIRED INSURANCE EMPLOYEES;FEDERATION,
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR(Retd), LIC: 12/4/2014
044-2815 5810/ 098403 40591
To: Hon Sri P. SATHASIVAM, Hon Chief Justice,Supreme Court of Ind ia,New Delhi