Thiruvananthapuram: If a vacancy was notified when the statutory pension scheme existed, the government might allow such persons appointed to switch over to the old pension scheme even if that person entered the post after the implementation of the participatory pension scheme. The Central Government has already introduced this facility in the wake of a Supreme Court order.
Recently, the state government issued an order providing this facility to civil service staff in Kerala. However, the government had decided that granting this exemption to state employees would be done only after examining the report of the Participatory Pension Review Committee.
The committee's report recommended that if these persons wrote the exam and appeared for the interview before the implementation of the participatory pension scheme, they should be given an opportunity to switch over to the old pension scheme. The main reason for this was that in 2021, when the committee submitted its report, the Central Government order said that the dates on which such persons wrote the exam and their date of appearing for the interview should be taken into account.
However, it was only later that the Central Government issued an order stipulating that in the case of persons who were appointed after the implementation of the participatory pension scheme but the notification for such posts was issued before the implementation of the scheme, a one-time option would be given to continue under the old pension. The Central Government issued the order on the basis of an order of various courts, including the Delhi High Court, that the conditions, including pension, on the date of notification should not be changed later. This also applies to Kerala.
State government employees have also approached the court with this demand. Over 500 cases are currently pending in this regard. The government has given an affidavit that a decision in those cases will be taken on the basis of the committee's report. The government has asked the ministerial panel appointed to study the report of the participatory pension scheme review committee to submit its suggestions within three months.
If this study is not stretched just as the decision on the report was stretched by two years, the government will have to take steps to make the participatory pension scheme more attractive. Reforms such as allowing DCRG (Death-cum-Retirement Gratuity) to employees, raising the government's share of the pension fund to 14%, and providing ex-gratia pension if persons are in service for less than 10 years will have to be implemented.
