F. No. 42/2/2014-P&PW(G)
Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Pension & Pensioners’ & Welfare
3rd Floor, Lok Nayak Bhavan
Khan Market, New Delhi – 110003
Date: 24th Feb, 2014
OFFICE MEMORANDUM
Subject: Forwarding of minutes of the 24th meeting of Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA).
Please find enclosed herewith a copy of minutes the 24 meeting of Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) heId on 05 February, 2014 under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble MOS (PP) at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, New Delhi for your kind perusal.
Enclosure:- as above
sd/-
(Sujasha Choudhury)
Dy. Secretary (P)
Minutes of the 24th meeting of Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) held on 05.02.2014 under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble MOS(PP) at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, New Delhi
The list of Participants is at Annexure-(I)
2. At the outset Joint Secretary (P) welcomed Hon’ble MOS(PP), representatives of Pensioners Associations and the participating officers of various Ministries/Departments. She mentioned that the Pensioners Associations had played an important role by bringing forth issues of common areas of interests to the pensioners. It was further added that under the overall guidance of the Hon’ble MOS(PP),the Department has continued the drive to simplify the processes/rules under the CCS(Pension) Rules. These would be formally released very soon.
On the recommendation of the Parliamentary Standing Committee the number of Pensioner Associations identified for the Pensioners Portal are being increased.
It was further added that selection of issues for inclusion as agenda for the SCOVA meeting was done carefully and consciously. No issue was left unaddressed. All issues relating to individual Ministries/Departments were forwarded to them and best efforts were put in to ensure that all issues are responded to.
3. Thereafter, Hon’ble MOS(PP),Chairman, SCOVA, welcomed the participants. He stated that the SCOVA is now meeting twice a year to be better able to address and monitor pension issues raised by SCOVA members. Many issues have been brought to a logical conclusion, and a number of pending issues deliberated upon and solutions worked out during deliberations of SCOVA. This has been possible due to regular reviews and proactive action taken by various Ministries/Departments. The Minister appreciated the contribution made by Pensioners Associations and also SCOVA members. Hon’ble MOS(PP) added that since last meeting a considerable progress has been made in issue of revision of PPOs of pre-2006 pensioners. He further mentioned that he had himself taken up pensioners issues with the Ministers of Railways, Defence and Health. As a result, there was considerable progress in disposal of revision cases as well as pending grievances. The Department was able to dispose of 22,498 grievances during the year, which resulted in bringing down the pendency to 6,882 as on 31.12.2013.
He further stated that Pensioners have served the country and helped in the nation building process. Therefore, it is our duty to take care of their welfare. A large number of issues of pensioners welfare are health related and have been taken up with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and hopefully solutions would be reached. An EFC memo on the Medical Insurance Scheme has been circulated by M/o Health & Family Welfare and will be finalized soon. The Hon’ble Minister, also appreciated the role of the Pensioner Associations, which had handed over a cheque for Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for the Uttrakhand Disaster.
He informed the SCOVA of his two important recent initiatives. (i) an Online Pension Sanction and Payment Tracking System called ‘Bhavishya‘ which is currently in operation in 15 Organisations/Departments. This would benefit individual pensioners as well as administrative authorities. (ii) a programme called ‘Sankalp‘ to channelize skill and experience of pensioners into socially useful and constructive work. This would be taken up on a pilot basis initially for 500 pensioners. This Department is also advising Ministries/Departments to conduct pre-retiring counseling/workshops to prepare the retiring officials for life after retirement specially formalities required to be completed to avail of pensionary dues, CGHS benefits, financial investments, preparation of Will etc. He was confident that this would be much appreciated by the pensioners and would give them continuous satisfaction and fulfillment as they will continue to contribute to society and nation building.
4. Thereafter, the Action Taken Report of 23rd SCOVA meeting and Fresh Agenda items of 24th SCOVA meeting were taken up for discussion.
Salient points of the discussions are reproduced below while the item wise decisions taken on the ATR are at Annexure A and those for the Fresh Agenda are at Annexure-B.
5. Salient Points of the discussion.
(A). Action Taken Report (ATR) raised in the 23rd meeting of SCOVA.
i) Sl. No. 1 of ATR:
Status of issue of revised PPOsto pre-2006 pensioners.
The latest status and further course of action in respect of PPOsis as under:-
a) CPAO intimated that as on 4th February, 2014 approximately 65,000 cases were pending for revision.
Secretary (Pension) informed that the Government has taken all possible steps to facilitate the completion of this task. Despite all these efforts, the very old cases where details are not forthcoming from pensioners and banks and are also not available with the Ministries and Departments are still pending. Secretary requested all the Associations to reach out to the pensioners to obtain the missing information. He also asked CPAO to segregate the remaining 65,000 cases Ministries/ Departments wise and conduct meeting with groups of 3-4 Ministries every week to facilitate early disposal of these cases.
b) Ministry of Railways informed that as on date approximately 90,000 cases are left for revision. As these remaining cases are the complicated ones, these could be revised only by 30, Sep, 2014. On the request of an Association the Ministry of Railways provided zone wise figures of pending pre-2006 PPOs.(Ann-II)
Target date:- 30th September, 2014.
c) Department of Posts informed that only 1 395 cases remain for revision.
Target date- 31st March, 2014.
d) Department of Telecommunications informed that of the approximately 29,000 pending cases, 17,000 pertains to BSNL and remaining relate to Department of Telecommunication.
Target date:- 30th June, 2014
e) Ministry of Defence informed that out of total 18.7 lakh pre-2006 pensioners, 1.8 lakh are Defence Civilian pensioners. 10 5 lakh PPOs have been revised, of which 84,000 PPOs pertain to Defence Civilians. On issue raised by the Associations Hon’bel MOS(PP) desired that the North-East Region must be covered int he regular Pension Adalats conducted by the Ministry of Defence. He would take up this issue with the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri.
Target date:- 30th September, 2014.
(Action: CPAO, M/o Railways, D/o Posts,
D/o Telecom, M/o Defence & D/o PPW)
ii). Decisions on Sl.No 2 to 7 of ATR may be seen on Annexure A.
a) S.No 2 of ATR:-
(a) New dispensary for Panchkula.
Ministry of Health & FW have not agreed to the request for opening of a new CGHS dispensary at Panchkula. The Hon’ble MOS(PP) stated that he will take up the matter again with the Hon’ble Minister of Health & Family Welfare.
(b) Computerisation of CGHS dispensary at Jammu.
The representative of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare intimated that the funds for the Jammu dispensary have been released. The process of computerization of dispensary at Jammu is likely to be completed shortly. Hence the item was closed.
b) S.No 7 of ATR:– Nomination facility for reimbursement of expenses incurred under CGHS.
M/o of Health & FW have issued an OM no S-11011/12/2013-CGHS(P) dated 25.09.2013 providing facility of Nomination for re-imbursement of Medical expenses in the event of death of Principal CGHS card holder.
c) (23.4) of ATR
Broad Banding of Disability Element for Pre-1996 cases.
The Department of Ex-Servlcem Welfare informed that the case is being pursued vigorously with the Department of Expenditure, where it is under consideration. The issue of providing benefit of modified parity on disability element for invalid/disabled pensioners, which had been raised int he last SCOVA meeting has still not been resolved. This is a serious matter and will be taken up by Hon’ble MOS(PP) with the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri.
(Action: D/o Expenditure & D/o Ex-Servicemen Welfare)
(B) FRESH AGENDA ITEMS FOR 24th SCOVA MEETING.
The decisions on the fresh agenda may kindly be seen at Annexure B. Salient points are below:-
(24.1) Health Insurance Scheme for pensioners including those residing at non-CGHS areas.
An EFC memo on the proposed Health Insurance Scheme has been circulated to various Ministries/Departments for comments. The Scheme would benefit a large number of pensioners who at present cannot avail of CGHS benefits. The representative of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare informed that the Scheme envisages similar hospitalization benefits as in CGHS but does not include OPD facility. The beneficiaries of the Scheme would be entitled to a Fixed Medical Allowance (FMA) for OPD facility.
(Action: Ministry of Health &. Family Welfare)
(24.2) Dedicated day for pensioners.
All the Ministries/Departments were agreeable to fix a time in any day in a week to meeting the pensioners. They would inform the day fixed for the activity by 28th February, 2014. The matter will therefore be dropped after the issue of orders for the same.
(Action: All Ministries)
(24.3) Special Family Pension for the Widows of Disabled War Veterans The representatives of M/o Defence informed that the issue is being actively pursued and comments are awaited from CGDA. Ministry of Defence was asked to expedite the same. For the civil side issue is being examined by D/oP&PW for Civil pensioners In consultation with Mia Home Affairs and other concerned Departments.
(Action :- Ministry of Defence & D/oPPW)
(24.4) Reimbursement of medical expenses to CGHS beneficiaries
The representative of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare informed that the reimbursement on account of medical procedures are being reimbursed as per the rates in PGI, Chandigarh. As far as implants are concerned there are ceiling rates prescribed under CGHS and are being reimbursed as per CGHS rates. The representatives of Health Ministry informed that if there is any specific case of non-adherence, in this regard that may be referred to DoPPW& Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The item may therefore be closed.
(Action: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare)
(24 5) Grant of T.A. to Non-official Members attending the SCOVA meetings- Permission to perform journey by AIR and grant of actual expenses, when the journey performed is above 1,000 km,
A proposaI from DoPPW is under consideration in D/o Expenditure.
(Action: DoP&PW & D/o Expenditure)
The meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair
*******
Annexure-A
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare
DECISIONS TAKEN IN 24th MEETING OF STANDING COMMITTEE OF
VOLUNTARY AGENCIES(SCOVA) ON ATR OF 23rd SCOVA MEETING
| S.No | Issue raised in 23rd SCOVA meeting as per minutes |
Gist of Decision taken in the 23rd SCOVA meeting |
Follow up Action and Decision taken in 24th SCOVA meeting |
| 1. | SI.No 1 of ATR of para 5: Status of issue of revised PPOs to pre-2006 pensioners. |
a) CPAO informed that as on 08.08.2013, 71,334 cases (34,733 pre-1990 and 36,601 pre-2006), of Civil Ministries/Deptts, are pending for revision. Approximately, 82% work of Civil Ministries/ Departments have been completed. Efforts are brinh made to approach the pensioners through advertisements, however, as pension has already been revised by the banks, response from pensioners was not encouraging. To strengthen the monitoring at the level of the Secretary of the administrative Min/Deptt, this item has been made a part of the monthly D.O to the Cabinet Secretary. | CPAO CPAO intimated that as on 4th February, 2014 approximately 65,000 cases were pending for revision. Secretary (Pension) informed that the Government has taken all possible steps to facilitate the completion of this task. Despite all these efforts, the very old cases where details are not forthcoming from pensioners and banks and are also not available with the Ministries and Departments are still pending. Secretary requested all the Associations to reach out to the pensioners to obtain the missing information. He also asked CPAO to segregate the remaining 65,000 cases Ministries/ Departments wise and conduct meeting with groups of 3-4 Ministries every week to facilitate early disposal of these cases. |
| b) Ministry of Railways informed that they have completed the revision of 5,87,035 out of 10,93,772 cases.. Hon’ble MOS (PP) desired that the Ministry of Railways should give advertisements in concerned regional languages. MOS(PP) will take up the issue with the Railway Minister, demi-officially. | Ministry of Railways Ministry of Railways informed that as on date approximately 90,000 cases are left for revision. As these remaining cases are the complicated ones, these could be revised only by 30,Sep,2014. On the request of an Association the Ministry of Railways provided zone wise figures of pending pre-2006 PPOs. (Ann-II) Target date:- 30th Sep,2014 |
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| c) Department of Posts informed that the after re-verification the number of pre-2006 pensioners have come down to 1,96,000 and now the DOP has completed 84.78% of the work. 29,855 cases are pending. The DOP are going through a transition from non digitisation to digitisation form, and the Department has already started ERP solution, by putting all the legacy data into ERP solution. | Department of Posts Department of Posts informed that only 1,395 cases remain for revision. Target date: 31st March, 2014 |
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| d) Department of Telecommunication informed that as on date 53,000 cases remain to be revised. The main problem was that DOT has to depend on BSNL for the records. The Secretary of DOT will address all heads of circles of BSNL to expedite the cases by constituting a Coordination Committee at each CCA.. 31st December, 2013 has been kept as a target date for BSNL to provide all the documents relating to it. | D/o Telecommunications:- Department of Telecommunications informed that of the approximately 29,000 pending cases, 17,000 pertains to BSNL and remaining relate to Department of Telecommunication. Target date :- 30th June, 2014 |
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| (e) 4.5 lakh cases (approx.) of Post-2006 pensioners have been computerised. Digital records of 5.88 lakh pensioners have also been created in respect of Pre- 2006 cases under Project SANGAM. Digitisation of pension data will be completed by 31st March, 2014, the revision exercise for all cases is proposed to be completed by September, 2014. (Action: CPAO, M/o Railways, D/o Posts, D/o Telecom, M/o Defence & D/oP&PW) |
Ministry of Defence Ministry of Defence informed that out of total 18.7 lakh pre-2006 pensioners, 1.8 lakh are Defence Civilian pensioners. 10.5 lakh PPOs have been revised, of which 84,000 PPOs pertain to Defence Civilians. On a issue raised by the Associations, Hon’ble MOS(PP) desired that the North-East Region must be covered in the regular Pension Adalats conducted by the Ministry of Defence. He would take up this issue with the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri. Target date:-30th September, 2014. (Action: CPAO, M/o Railways, D/o Posts, D/o Telecom, M/o Defence & D/o P&PW) |
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| 2. | iii) 51. No.3 of ATR: (13) The Orders of Ministry of Health reiterating that all the pensioners are at liberty to opt themselves with any of the nearest CGHS hospital/ dispensary may be widely circulated. Arbitrary orders dated 01/08/1996 and (Action: M/o Health & 01/09/1996 issued FVV) by Ministry of Health and Director of CGHS may be withdrawn and the benefit of CGHS facilities be allowed to the pensioners of Department of Post and Department of Telecom. |
In respect of point 13 & 16(i) the representative of Ministry of Health & FW informed that the matter regarding withdrawal of OMs dated 01.08.1996 and 01.09.1996 (which provide that the P&T pensioners not participating in CGHS while in service may not be extended this facility) is sub-judice. (Action: M/o Health &FW) |
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare As regards (13) & 16(i):- The representatives of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare informed that the matter is sub-judice. |
| 16(i) Medical facilities for existing P&T pensioners. (iii) S.No 6 of ATR Regarding additional dispensaries |
Ministry of Health & FW informed that due to the financial and logistic constraints it is not possible to open more dispensaries. Ministry is however mooting a proposal to open CGHS dispensaries at all State Capital not yet covered by CGHS. MOS(PP) said that for opening of dispensary at Panchkula, the matter from his level will be taken up again. M/o informed merger Health that of & with 19 FW the P&T dispensaries with CGHS the problem of non-availability of hospilalisation facility has been mitigated to a large extent | >> Ministry of Health & Family Welfare have not agreed to the request for opening of a new CGHS dispensary at Panchkula. The Hon’ble MOS(PP) stated that he will take up the matter again with the Hon’ble Minister of Health & Family Welfare. | |
| Regarding empanelment of hospitals, the Ministry of Health & FW informed that in smaller cities, the empanelment of hospitals has been done only in those places where CGHS dispensaries are available. This is because the number of patients in such cities is sizeable. | >>The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare informed that as a policy matter, CGHS empanels private hospitals only in the cities where it is in operation. Hence, the matter may be dropped. | ||
| On the question of computerisation of CGHS dispensary at Jammu, the Ministry of Health & FW informed that the matter is under process. (Action: M/o Health &. FW) |
>> The representative of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare intimated that the funds for the Jammu dispensary have been released. The process of computerization of dispensary at Jammu is likely to be completed shortly. Hence the item was closed. (Action: M/o Health &. FW) |
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| 3. | vi) of Para 5 51. No 7 of ATR Nomination facility for reimbursement of expenses incurred under CGHS |
In D/o P&PW letter dated 30.07.2013, Ministry of Health was informed that seeking Affidavits/NOC etc. on stamp paper from the legal heirs/family members may cause avoidable inconvenience to them. The feasibility of reimbursing the hospitalization expenses in respect of the deceased employee/pensioner to the nominee for the purpose of GPF, gratuity, CGEGIS, etc. could, therefore, be examined. M/o Health & FW was again requested to re-consider the matter. Ministry of Health &FW informed that in the light of the observations of D/oP&PW, the issue is being re-examined. | D/o P&PW &. M/o Health &. Family Welfare M/o of Health & FW have issued an OM no S-11011/12/2013-CGHS(P) dated 25.09.2013 providing the facility of Nomination for re-imbursement of medical expenses in the event of death of Principal CGHS card holder. In view of the position explained above, the item was closed. |
| 4. | ix) Sl. No 10 of ATR Anomaly in fixation of pension to DoT employees absorbed in BSNL, who retired between 1.10.2000 and 31.7.2001. | The representative of D/o Telecomm. informed that the matter has been re-examined by them and a fresh proposal will be sent to D/o P&PW for consideration before 30.09.2013 (Action : D/o Telecommunications & D/o P&PW) |
D/o P&PW & D/o Telecomm. Jt. Secretary (Pension) informed that although a proposal in this respect was received from D/o Telecomm. on 22.10.2013, some clarifications requested were received only on 03.02.2014. The proposal of D/o Telecomm is under examination. Response of D/oP&PW will be communicated to Deptt. of Telecommunications at the earliest. (Action : D/o Telecommunications & D/o P&PW) |
| 5. | x) 51. No 11 of ATR Merger of 78.2% IDA with basic pension benefit to the absorbed BSNL Pensioners:- |
The representative of Department of Telecommunications informed that the matter has been re-examined by them and a fresh proposal will be sent to D/o P&PW for consideration before 30.09.2013. (Action: D/o Telecom & D/o P&PW) |
D/o P&PW & D/o Telecomm. D/oP&PW has already communicated its ‘No Objection’ to the proposal subject to the approval of Deptt. of Expenditure. D/o Telecomm. has referred the proposal to D/o Expenditure. The matter is under examination in D/o Expenditure. (Action: D/o Telecom & D/o P&PW) |
| 6. | (23.2) Extension of benefit of upgraded Grade Pay to pre- 2006 retirees of S- 12 grade. | Ministry of Finance has informed that the grade pay of Rs. 4600 is not the corresponding grade pay in respect of the pre-revised pay scale of Rs 6500- 10,500. This grade pay is the corresponding grade pay of the upgraded post in the pay scale of 7,450- 11,500. The corresponding grade pay for pre-revised pay scale of 6,500-10,500 is Rs. 4200, since the benefit of upgraded pay scale is not to be given to the pre-2006 pensioners, the pension of pre-2006 pensioners who retired in the pay scale of 6500- 10,500 cannot be fixed with reference to the minimum of fitment table with grade Pay of Rs. 4600. Pensioners Associations informed that there are some CAT orders allowing benefit of grade pay of Rs. 4600 to the pre-2006 pensioners who retired in the pay scale of 6,500- 10,500. It was decided that since the matter is subjudice, the final decision would be taken subsequent to court decisions. (Action: Department of Expenditure, D/o P&PW) |
D/o Expenditure & D/o P&PW The representatives from Department of Expenditure intimated that since the matter is sub-judice no decision can be taken. (Action: D/o Expenditure, & D/o P&PW) |
| 7. | (23.4) Broad Banding of Disability Element for Pre-1996 cases. | The matter was processed and referred to MoD(Fin) for concurrence. But MoD (Fin) returned the matter back for knowing the financial implications involved. CGDA, expressed its difficult in furnishing the requisite information. MoD(Fin) was persuaded to process the matter without the financial implications. The case has been referred to M/o Finance by MoD(Fin) in March,2013. The DESW has been in constant touch with the D/o Expenditure to get the case finalized. Secretary (Pension) requested the Ministry of Finance to expedite the disposal of cases. (Action: D/o Expenditure & D/o Ex- Servicemen Welfare) |
D/o Ex Servicemen Welfare & D/o Expenditure :- The Department of Ex- Servicemen Welfare informed that the case is being pursued vigorously with the Department of Expenditure, where it is under consideration. The issue of providing benefit of modified parity on disability element for invalid/disabled pensioners, which had been raised in the last SCOVA meeting, has still not been resolved. This is a serious matter and will be taken up by Hon’ble MOS(PP) with the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri. (Action:D/o Expenditure & D/o Ex-Servicemen Welfare) |
| 8. | 23.7) Extension of benefit of OM dt. 28.1.2013 w.e.f 1.1. 2006 instead of 24.9.2012 |
It was stated that a SLP filed by the D/o P&PW has been dismissed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 29.07.2013. The Department was considering further course of action in consultation with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Law. (Action: D/o P&PW) |
D/oP&PW The matter is sub-judice, so no decision can be taken. (Action:D/o P&PW) |
Annexure-B
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
(Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare)
DECISIONS TAKEN ON FRESH AGENDA ITEMS FOR 24TH MEETING OF STANDING COMMITTEE OF VOLUNTARY AGENCIES (SCOVA) HELD ON 5TH FEBRUARY, 2014 AT VIGYAN BHAWAN ANNEXE, NEW DELHI
| S.no | FRESH AGENDA ITEMS FOR 24th SCOVA | Follow up Action and Decision taken in 24th SCOVA |
| 24.1 | Health Insurance Scheme for pensioners including those residing at non-CGHS areas. The present position regarding the introduction of Health Insurance Scheme for pensioners may be indicated. |
D/oP&PW & M/o Health & Family Welfare An EFC memo on the proposed Health Insurance Scheme has been circulated to various Ministries/Departments for comments. The Scheme would benefit a large number of pensioners who at present cannot avail of CGHS benefits. The representative of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare informed that the Scheme envisages similar hospitalization benefits as in CGHS but does not include OPD facility. The beneficiaries of the Scheme would be entitled to a Fixed Medical Allowance (FMA) for OPD facility. (Action:- DoPPW & M/o Health & Family Welfare) |
| 24.2 | Dedicated day for pensioners: In line with DOP&PW (Reference No. 5/40/2012- P&PW(C) dtd 31.12.2012): Ministry of Railways which has more than 12,18,000 Pensioners/Family pensioners should create similar facility for Pensioners/family pensioners at Rly. Board, Zonal Hqs & Divisional level. Similar facility may be provided in Ministry of Defence, Posts, Telecom etc. |
M/o Railways, M/o Health & Family Welfare, D/o Posts, D/o Telecomm., M/o Defence, D/o Financial Services, DoPT, D/o Expenditure, CPAO All the Ministries/Departments were agreeable to fix a time in any day in a week to meeting the pensioners. They would inform this day by 28th Feb, 2014. The matter will therefore be dropped after the issue of orders for the same. (Action:- M/o Railways, M/o Health & Family Welfare, D/o Posts, D/o Telecomm., M/o Defence, D/o Financial Services, DoPT, D/o Expenditure, CPAO) |
| 24.3 | Special Family Pension for the widows of Disabled War Veterans A war disabled soldier, on being invalided out of service, receives war injury pension comprising war injury /disability element and service element. On his demise, war injury /disability element of the pension gets extinguished and his widow’s family pension is fixed on the basis of service element only, resulting in a sharp reduction in the pension amount. The case for basing the family pension entitlement of the widow a disabled war veteran on his last drawn pension inclusive of war injury /disability element is well merited as follows – (A) Most war disabled ex-servicemen invalided out of service, are forced to leave service at a very young age, often with less than 5 years of service, and in very junior ranks without achieving their full potential. Service Element of their War Injury Pension is accordingly fixed very low. Combining war injury element with service element enhances the total pension to a reasonable amount. (B) As the career of a disabled ex-serviceman is curtailed while fighting for the nation in adverse circumstances, it is imperative that after his demise, the family does not suffer financially. This can be assured to some extent by not excluding the war injury element for the purpose of computing family pension entitlement of the widow. (C) The proposal was initiated well over 2 years ago and is currently under examination by Deptt of Ex-servicemen Welfare. However, the movement is very slow. As the issue equally concerns para-military forces under MHA, it may be piloted by DoPPW. (D) The number of invalided out disabled war veterans is small and the benefit would accrue to the widow only after a veteran’s demise; the financial implications therefore would be limited. The morale boosting impact on the armed forces and para-military forces, however, would be huge. |
D/o P&PW & DIo Ex-Servicemen Welfare The representatives of Mlo Defence informed that the issue is being actively pursued and comments are awaited from CGDA. Ministry of Defence was asked to expedite the same. For the civil side issue is being examined by DjoP&PW for Civil pensioners in consultation with Mlo Home Affairs and other concerned Departments. (Action:- DoPPW & D/o Ex-Servicemen Welfare) |
| 24.4 | Reimbursement of medical expenses to CGHS beneficiaries:- As per instructions contained in O.M.No.S- 11030/6/2001-CGHS(P) dated 5.11.2001 issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi the reimbursement of expenditure incurred on treatment availed from AIIMS will be made as per rates of AIIMS and as per entitlement of the beneficiary. However, in Chandigarh whenever a CGHS member gets treatment from the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences and Research the reimbursement of medical expenses incurred on such treatment is restricted to limits prescribed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare from time to time and the patient is left to bear the difference from his pocket, which in some cases is much more than the amount actually reimbursed to the beneficiary. Both the above Institutions are run entirely on the same pattern and with the full budgetary support provided by the Govt. of India. Rates to be charged from the patients from time to time are also approved by the Govt. of India. Once a patient is referred for specialized treatment to the PGIMER by the CMO I/C Wellness Center the patient should be normally reimbursed full charges as paid to the PGIMERas per entitlement of the beneficiary. As the CGHS beneficiaries are left to bear the huge amount from their own pocket there is great resentment amongst the retirees. It is also not understood as to why CGHS beneficiaries of Delhi and Chandigarh are treated differently by the Govt. of India. It is requested that in view of the position explained above the Govt. of India Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, New Delhi may kindly reconsider the above anomaly and issue necessary instructions so that the beneficiaries at Chandigarh are not left to suffer any more on this account. |
M/o Health & Family Welfare The representative of Ministry of Health & Family Welfare informed that the reimbursement on account of medical procedures are being reimbursed as per the rates in PGI, Chandigarh. As far as implants are concerned there are ceiling rates prescribed under CGHS and are being reimbursed as per CGHS rates. The representatives of Health Ministry informed that if there is any specific case of non-adherence, in this regard that may be referred to DoPPW & Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.. The item may therefore be closed. |
| 24.5 | Grant of T.A. to Non-official Members attending the SCOVA meetings- Permission to perform journey by AIR and grant of actual expenses, when the journey performed is above 1,000 km. Generally, all the Non-official Members representing Pensioners’ Associations who attend the SCOVA meetings are in their advanced age and are not in robust health to withstand the strains associated with journeys performed by Road and Rail especially, when such journeys extend beyond 24 hours and the distance travelled is above 1,000 km. The plight of those members who are suffering from old age ailments needs no explanation. Journey performed by Air, even from a place in the southern most part of the country may not take more than 3 hours to reach the Capital city of New Delhi where SCOVA meetings are held. Further, journey by Air is not as tedious as the journey by Rail and therefore it is preferable. Supplementary Rule 190( b) states that “A Competent Authority may, in its discretion; grant to the person concerned his actual travelling, hotel and carriage expenses instead of travelling allowance under that clause, if it considers that such allowance would be inadequate.” Further, as per the provisions contained in G.I., M.F., O.M. No.F.19024/7/82-E dated the 8th October, 1982 incorporated in Appendix 2 of F.R.& S.R. Part II (T.A.Rules) performing journey by train by the non-officials is compulsory only when the distance travelled is up to 500 km and the journey could be performed by overnight. Non-official Members who attend SCOVA Meetings as representatives of Pensioners’ Associations functioning in the Southern part of the Country have to travel above 2,000 km to reach New Delhi and the hours of journey, if performed by train, is also more than 40 hours. Similarly, the Members from places in Western and some places in the Eastern part of the Country have to travel for a distance of above 1000 km and the period of journey, if performed by train, will be more than 24 hours. In view of the provisions under T.A. Rules stated in the preceding paragraph, it is requested that the case of non-official members travelling above 1,000 km to attend SCOVA meetings may be considered sympathetically and as a special case, grant them actual travelling expenses incurred by them when they perform the journey by Air, without limiting their claim to the train fare by entitled class, which would go a long way in helping the Pensioners’ Associations, since the Associations have to meet extra expenditure, if the T.A. claim of their representatives is restricted to the Train fare. |
D/oP&PW A proposal from DOPPW is under consideration in D/o Expenditure.
(Action: DoPPW)
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