The Sixth Pay Commission Report has been submitted by the Chairman of the Sixth Pay Commission for the Central Government Employees, Justice Srikrishna, amidst controversies and criticisms of the larger section of the 4 million Central Government Employees in India.
For the time being it is better to confine our attention, as to the Sixth Pay Commission Report vis-à-vis the Pensioners. The Pay Commission has not spelt out any alteration in the age of retirement of a Central Government Employee, confining it to 60.
The Pay Commission has however changed some of the basic pension rules, making it simpler and also thereby causing some benefits to the pensioners. The Pay Commission has recommended for the implementation of the report with retrospective effect from 01/01/2006.
Hitherto, the pension to be drawn by a retiring employee was calculated on the basis of the average emoluments that a person drawn in the last ten months prior to one’s retirement and taking the 50 % of the average emoluments of the last ten months salary multiplied by a total number of service he or she put in divided by 33 i.e
50 % 0f The average of last ten months emoluments x Actual service rendered by an employee/33
But as per the Sixth Pay Commission Report, this quotient is dispensed with. Accordingly, 50 % of the higher average emoluments or the last drawn pay alone is taken into account, without linking it to 33 years of service etc, to calculate the pension to be drawn by a person. Pension to be drawn by a person: 50 % of the higher average emoluments or last pay drawn by him.
Again minimum qualifying service making a person eligible to draw the pension is 10 years. Therefore, the procedure of calculating the pension to be drawn by a person has been simplified by the Sixth pay commission.
Besides, as per the Sixth Pay Commission Report, higher rates of pensions have been recommended to the pensioners on attaining the age of 80, 85, 90,95,100. But this recommendation will be availed only by a handful of pensioners, whose percentage is rather negligible and insignificant. No other benefit is worth mentioning.
To say the least , the procedure of calculating pension has been simplified and fringe benefits has been extended to only a handful of people, who are Octogenarians !
When the average life span of an Indian is just around 60, is their any meaning in providing such fringe benefits to pensioners. Absolutely ridiculous and sheer non-sense!