ISSUES OF BANK PENSIONERS ARE BEING OVERLOOKED ON WRONG NOTIONS

What is the fact, why it is done better known to the concerned. Who is the main regulator but is a hard fact that UFBU never sincerely seen PURSUING THE ISSUES OR IBA IS ADAMANT TO DEFY LOGICS and following grounds are sufficient to expose the facts:- 1. In the first place Pension in the Banking Industry is not given out of Profit as wrongly being claimed by the IBA. 2. In Banks, Pension is given under the Defined Benefit Pension Scheme and is given as a deferred wage. 3. Pension is given in lieu of the CPF surrendered by the Bank employees and Officers once they opted for Pension. 4. Pension fund is originally created out of the CPF so surrendered. 5. The Pension Fund gets accruals every year by way of interest earned on the fund and Investment made out of the Fund. 6. Presently the Pension Fund of all the Banks including State Bank of India put together easily exceeds more than Rs.2,50,000/- crores approx. as on March, 2019 and the amount would be higher as on March, 2020 7. The Pension Scheme in the Banks is a close ended scheme because it is available to only those who are recruited before April, 2010. 8. In fact there was literally no recruitment in the Banking Industry from 1985 almost up to the year 1999 and those who are recruited after the year 1999 would be Retiring after another 15-16 years. 9. So, naturally the average age of present Retirees is above 70 years and quite a good number of them are at very advanced age of more than 85 years where as the Pension Corpus is very huge which will continue to remain huge even after almost all the Retirees cease to exist. 10. So far, as the Family Pensioners are concerned, their case is simply pathetic as many of them are spouses of deceased Bank Employees (mostly women) with a meager Pension ranging from Rs4,000/- to Rs14,000/- including DA. 11. All the above Pending issues when considered will not affect the Banks even a bit as the entire amount will be paid out of the Pension Fund already available and the Fund will sustain even for all future commitments. 12. Any provision to be made under “AS 15 (Revised)’ is only a one time dispensation for future contingencies which are very remote going by the presence of the strong Pension Corpus. Such provisions have to be necessarily made before arriving at the Profit as Payment of Pension is a Revenue Expenditure. 13. All the Banks are making huge Operating Profits which is a clear proof of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Employees and Officers of the Banks both Past & Present. 14. Uniform DA to Pre-2002 Retirees will remove the discrimination they are suffering from and will give some relief to them from the vagaries of the Price Rise. 15. As regards Medical Insurance Scheme, the minimum expectation of Bank Retirees is that the Banks should bear the premium cost as is being done in the case of serving Employees and Officers. 16. The Bank Retirees have immensely contributed to the overall growth of the economy of the Nation especially after the Nationalization of the Banks and carried out all the Programs and Policies of the Government very successfully more recently Jan Dhan Yojna, Mudra Loans Demonetization etc. The issues relating to cost of updation of Pension and their affordability are nonissues from the Employees and Officer’s point of view as it is obligatory on the part of the Banks to make adequate provision to ensure that all the benefits under Pension Scheme are met out of the Pension Fund. Bank Employees Pension Regulation has very clearly spelt out about the constitution of the Pension Fund and payment of Pension thereof with Updation. The Regulations have laid down clearly about the contribution to the fund and it is nowhere provided that employees and officers have to make any contribution to the fund except surrender of CPF along with the interest accrued thereon. The contentions of IBA and Government about affordability and Profitability constraint are beyond the scope of Pension Regulation. It is once again clarified that contributions to the Pension Fund b the Banks are in the nature of Revenue Expenditure and do not form part of Profit & Loss Appropriation Account as such contributions are made before arriving at the Profits. ¬ - B L KATUVA