Thiruvananthapuram: The government employees are unhappy over the changes made in the method of calculating service period for determining pension. The Left wing organisations and others demanded that the decision should be revised.
Earlier, service longer than six months was counted as one year and less than six months was excluded. But this has been changed in the new method. The service period from 3-9 months will be considered as half year and above 9 months will be counted as one year. Also there are changes in calculating the period for granting full pension.
The employees said that the new method will reduce the pension and other benefits for many staff and is not beneficial for majority of the staff. So, the decision should be revised, demanded Festo, the public platform for the Left wing associations.
There are some ambiguities regarding relaxations in calculating the minimum pension and full pension. The high court had directed that the extra days in leap years during the service period should be treated as eligible days for pension. In addition to implementing this directive, the system of providing benefits of one year for those who have a service period of six months and one day has been stopped.
Festo president K C Harikrishnan and general secretary Mathukutty stated that amending the rules without any discussions cannot be accepted. The new decision was taken to cause difficulties for the staff at a wrong time, said NGO Association president Chavara Jayakumar.
The finance department explained that when so many employees are approaching the court regarding the calculation of service period, it causes loss of time and money for the government. So, the rules for the same are amended, they said.
Other changes
- Service period less than 3 months will be excluded. Earlier, service less than 6 months was removed.
- The system of considering service period of 9 years and one day as 10 years will be continued for granting minimum pension.
- The system of considering service period of 29 years and one day as 30 years has been stopped while calculating full pension.
- Service period of 32 years and one day will not be treated as 33 years to provide gratuity.
- The extra days in leap years will be counted for providing pension.