SRPA wants decisions benefiting ex-teachers enforced

Karachi
Retired professors of the province have urged the Sindh government to implement all pending decisions regarding legally entitled benefits to former employees at the earliest.
Sindh Retired Professors’ Association (SPRA) Convener Saeed-uz-Zafar Khan expressed these views while talking to The News on Friday. The office of the Accountant General Sindh is not issuing orders for payments of special additional pension - Orderly Allowance of Rs7,000 per month - which was effected from January 1, 2013 for retired officers of grade-20 and above, he stated.
Professor Khan claimed that the provincial financial department has issued a notification on May 21, 2015 in this regard but till date the AG Sindh was not implementing it whereas in the Punjab retired employees were getting the same benefits.
“The Sindh government should ask the AG Sindh office as to why retired employees are not getting orderly allowance despite the fact that provincial financial department has given necessary approval.” On behalf of the SPRA, the convener also said that Balochistan government was used to pay group insurance and benevolent fund to all government retired pensioners on date of their retirement and mentioned that the Balochistan government under notification No: FD(FD)-X-9/2011/1978-2077 issued on February 2011, was giving group insurance and benevolent fund to former employees of different grade scales.
According to him, retired employees of BPS 01-04 received Rs1,20,000, BPS 05 to 10 got Rs1,50,000, BPS 11 till 15 were eligible for Rs2,50,000, BPS-16 were entitled for Rs4,00,000, BPS-17 get paid Rs5,00,000, BPS-18 received Rs7,00,000, BPS-19 got Rs8,50, 000 and ex-employees of BPS-20 and above collected Rs10, 00, 000 at the end of their services.
He maintained that in case, any employee died during service then the Balochistan government helped out the deceased’s family with group insurance whereas on his/her retirement full amount was transferred into the account while same lapsed after 60 years of service in Sindh, which was injustice with retired employees.
However, Khan pointed out that if any on-service employees died in Sindh then the provincial government made sure that amount had been paid from group insurance. “But, SRPA demanded that Sindh government should handover the full amount after the retirement as a person has full right to collect it at end of his/her long service,” he said.
He appealed to the Sindh government that they should give one salary from the benevolent fund to the government servant on the date of their retirement as a ‘farewell grant’.
Meanwhile, Khan referred that a large number of retired government employees in Sindh were yet to enjoy benefits of the courts’ verdicts regarding withdrawing one of the clauses related to pensioners, who served their respective departments till their last day of service.
The Federal Tribunal Court made a judgement on April 24, 2012 and the Supreme Court of Pakistan on March 31, 2014, gave its respective decision to withdraw commutation period, he said. The convener said that the federal government in its Budget 2015-16 also declared para 16(e) of the impugned office memorandum of federal Finance Division (Regulation Wing) null and void to benefit pensioners, adding that before implementation of the basic scale of pay 2001 the employees used to get maximum advantage. However, he went on, as soon as basic scale of pay 2001 became functional most of their benefit were waived off but now as it has been declared invalid the retire government servant were eligible to get more benefits as they did in past.