AIBOC CIRCULAR NO. 83 DATED 09.09.2011

AIBOC issued its circular No. 83 dated 09.09.2011 on the 9th Triennial Conference of AIBOC West Bengal State Unit. We are placing the same here for our readers.

CIRCULAR NO.83                                          DATE: 09.09.2011

TO ALL AFFILIATES/MEMBERS:

9TH TRIENNIAL CONFERENCE OF AIBOC WEST BENGAL STATE UNIT

9th Triennial Conference of AIBOC West Bengal State Unit, was held at ABC Auditorium, Indian Museum, Kolkata on 4th September, 2011 at 10:00 a.m.  The delegates and observers attended the conference in full strength.

The inaugural session commenced with a patriotic song, followed by welcome address by Com.Dipankar Mitra, President of the West Bengal State Unit.

Com.P.K.Sarkar, President AIBOC, after lighting the lamp, delivered inaugural address. He advised the members to evince keen interest in organisational activities and volunteer to shoulder higher responsibility in the Association. Further, he also advised the members to be vigilant in dealing with advances and ensure that no authority in the Bank to indulge in corrupt practices. The Confederation is for Probity in Public life, said Com.Sarkar.

Com.Dipankar Mukherjee, Secretary, West Bengal State Unit Presented the secretary’s report with statement of accounts and resolutions for adoption.

Com.G.D.Nadaf, General Secretary, AIBOC in his keynote address, briefed on the saga of struggle for nearly 15 years by the Confederation in achieving one more option on pension to CPF Optees and the support gathered from various organisations. He thanked all earlier leaders for their contribution to the historic achievement. The Confederation deserves all appreciation said Com.Nadaf under thunderous applause by the participants. He briefed on 5th August, 2011 the strike issues and the decision of the UFBU to proceed with action programmes to clinch the issues. He appealed to the membership, be in readiness to fight back on the new initiatives of Govt./IBA to curb trade union activities in the Banking Industry. The 10th bipartite is fast approaching and Confederation has to play a major role in securing better salary revision with improvements to superannuation scheme at par with the Central Govt. employees pension scheme.

Com.Dipankar Mitra and Com.Dipankar Mukherjee have been declared elected as President and Secretary of West Bengal State Unit respectively for the triennial period 2011-2014. We congratulate and wish them all the best in their new assignments.

The conference concluded with vote of thanks by Com.Sanjay Kumar Das.  Com.S.Roy Choudhuri, Advisor - AIBOC, Com.Suprito Sarkar, General Secretary Union Bank of India Officers’ Association, Com.Nirmal.K.Bari, President, All India Allahabad Bank Officers’ Association participated in the Conference. On the occasion, Com.Nirmal.K.Bari and Com.B.N.Bhattacharya were felicitated on account of their nomination as Directors on the Boards of Allahabad Bank and Union Bank of India, respectively.

We compliment President, Secretary and others Office Bearers of the West Bengal State Unit of AIBOC for organising a successful function.

With greetings

Sd/-

(G.D. NADAF)

GENERAL SECRETARY

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We invite your kind attention to the Joint Note signed between the Officers’ Associations and IBA on 14.12.1999 wherein it was agreed, inter alia, the following:

Ø  The Revised Salary, Dearness Allowance and Pension will be implemented from 01.04.1998. For Salary Revision merger of DA was at 1684 points.

Ø  The retirees will get their pension on the basic pay with merger of DA at 1616 points as per the Joint Note signed on 14.12.1999 and from 01.04.1998.

The above provisions of the Joint Note created an anomalous situation for the officers who retired during the period 01.11.1997 to 31.03.1998 who were denied the benefit of VII Bipartite settlement.  Such officers continued to get their pension on the Basic Pay as per the VI Bipartite settlement.

The Officers retiring after 01.04.1998 got pension at less than 50% of their last drawn Basic Pay, which was in contravention of the Pension Regulations.

The anomaly with regard to merger of DA at 1616 points was set right with signing of the Joint Note on 02.06.2005 but the retirees were denied the benefit of the full merger of DA at 1684 points as the Pension Scheme for the above category of officers was implemented with effect from 01.05.2005.  Thus, the officers who retired during the period 01.04.1998 to 30.04.2005 were denied the benefit of the salary Revision of the VII Bipartite settlement, i.e., 50% of the Basic Pay as Pension along with DA thereon for the above period.

Aggrieved by the above blatant injustice done to them, many retirees across the country had approached the Courts of law.  The Retirees of Bank of Baroda had filed a writ Appeal in the Hon’ble High Court of Judicature at Chennai, the Hon’ble High Court upholding the contentions of the petitioners, has delivered a judgement in favour of the petitioners, and the Hon’ble Judges have averred that:

“In the absence of any amendment to the Regulations 2(d) and 35(2) (of the pension Regulations 1995), the attempt made on the part of respondents, curtailing this benefit to the appellants and such other similarly standing persons by introducing the impugned amendment is illegal. It would have been a completely different thing, had the Joint Note agreed for all corresponding amendments including definitions for all corresponding amendments, including the definitions for Regulations 2(d) and 35(2), which is not the case herein.  Therefore, without any hesitation, we can say that the impugned amendments brought by the respondents 1 & 2 are quite against the Regulations 2(d) and 35(2) and the very intent and purport of the Regulations is null and void”.

The Hon’ble Judges have further ordered that:

“The respondents 1 & 2 are directed to calculate and pay the difference of monetary benefits to the appellants within twelve weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this judgement”.

From the foregoing it is crystal clear that the curtailment of benefit by introducing the impugned amendment is held to be illegal and all the retirees between the period 01.04.1998 to 30.04.2005 are eligible for the benefit of 50% of the revised Basic Pay as at 01.04.1998 with merger of DA at 1684 points and also for differential commutation amount.

The arguments of the learned Judges are supported by different decided cases.  We have enclosed a copy of the judgement for your perusal and necessary orders in the matter.  As the Judgement applies to all the affected officers in an omnibus way, we request you to implement the pension payment to all the affected officers at your earliest.

We also would request you to take-up the matter with the Ministry of Finance, Government of India for an early clearance of the matter and render justice to all the aggrieved officers.

Thanking you,

Yours sincerely,

Sd/-

(G.D. NADAF)

GENERAL SECRETARY