Kerala allows civil service officers to migrate to UPS; no decision on state govt staff
This shift would enable officers to draw nearly half their salary as pension during retirement.
This shift would enable officers to draw nearly half their salary as pension during retirement.
This shift would enable officers to draw nearly half their salary as pension during retirement.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s Finance department has issued an order permitting IAS, IPS and IFS officers in the state to migrate to the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) implemented by the Central Government. This shift would enable officers to draw nearly half their salary as pension during retirement.
Almost all civil service officers are expected to opt for UPS as the existing contributory pension scheme, under which the pension amount is determined based on the fund's growth, is considered unattractive.
At the same time, the Kerala government is yet to implement the new pension scheme it had promised to replace the contributory pension scheme for state government employees. The state is not implementing the UPS either. It is against this background that the Finance department has issued an order favouring the IAS and other civil service officers in response to their demand for UPS.
Meanwhile, employees under the contributory pension scheme are angry with the state government for neither announcing a new pension policy nor allowing them to opt for UPS. Kerala has not implemented the scheme, citing the stipulation to set aside 18.5 per cent of the basic pay as the government's contribution. The state has also not implemented the recommendation of an experts’ panel to increase the government’s share in the contributory pension scheme from 10 to 14 per cent.
Incidentally, several states are replacing the contributory pension scheme with UPS, the latest being Haryana.