The fact that the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has so far failed to pass on the benefits of the 7th Pay Commission to its 19,000-strong pensioners has caused consternation among a section of the retirees.
While the research agency, which has 38 laboratories across the country, has extended the benefits of the latest pay commission to its 16,000-strong service personnel, it has not implemented the recommendations for the pensioners as yet. The revised pay and pension scales are expected to be from January 1, 2016.
“So much so that a person who is retiring today may be getting pension benefits according to the 6th Pay Commission, even though he was drawing salary as per the 7th Pay Commission till the previous day,” said a scientist working with one of its labs, on condition of anonymity. Apart from an increase in pension amount, the latest pay commission has doubled the limit on gratuity to ₹20 lakh from ₹10 lakh. The quantum of monthly pension is expected to go up between 14 and 22 per cent.
When contacted, CSIR Director General Girish Sahni admitted that its existing staff are already enjoying the latest pay commission benefits, but it is still being implemented for the retired personnel. “The CSIR has already adopted the 7th Pay Commission recommendations for the pensioners….on May 11 this year. Actual disbursal of pensionary (sic) benefits is being implemented very shortly,” Sahni said.
“If they have notified four months back, why haven’t they implemented it so far,” asked a former scientist.
The Union Budget for the current financial year has allocated additional funds to meet the demand arising of revised salary and pension scales, a fact that the CSIR DG admitted in a mail written in his communication to his senior colleagues. According to this correspondence, the total outgo on account of pension in this current year would be ₹1650 crore, which is much higher than nearly ₹900 crore it spent as pension payouts in the last fiscal.
According to an informed source, the CSIR, which is an autonomous body under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, will find it difficult to raise funds to implement the revised pension scheme if it doesn’t roll it out by the second quarter, which ends this month. “By the end of the quarter, there will be a mid-term review on the financial requirement of the agency, which is invariably decided on the basis of how much funds it has been able to spend by the first two quarters,” the source said.