This refers to the letter ‘Pension problem’ (Aug 19) by Raja Ghazanfar Ali Khan Adowaliya. I’m afraid to say that the writer was misinformed when he said that “the previous government announced that pensioners who were 70 or older will receive twice the amount of their original pension”. The fact is that it is the restoration of commuted value of pension which is admissible at the age of 75 to retirees who are superannuated at the age of 60. Formerly, the restoration was equal to the amount of only commuted value and the benefit of annual increases in pension was not given to pensioners. But then on an appeal, the Federal Services Tribunal in a landmark decision declared that the benefit of annual increments be given to pensioners and this declaration was, later, endorsed by the apex court too.
The myth of double pension is also flawed; however, there is a substantial increase in pension. To quote my own instance, I was getting the pension of Rs50,000 plus but when my commuted value was restored last year, my pension was fixed at Rs80,0000 plus. However, those pensioners who receive meagre amount of pension deserve an increment. This should be favourably considered by the new PTI government. I would suggest that the minimum pension should be raised to Rs20,000.
Prof (r) Syed Basharat Ali
Rawalpindi