My third letter to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India regarding unjust LIC of India

 My third letter to the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India regarding unjust LIC of India

 To,                                                                         

                                                                                                                              Dec 15, 2023, 3:35 PM (4 days ago)

The Hon'ble Prime Minister of India,

Sri Narendra Modiji

Respected Sir,

                         

Sub.: Wage Revision Arrears – Repudiation by L.I.C of India

Ref. The letter received from L.I.C of India today, by me.

                                 My letters to you dated 18th June 2023 and 4th August, 2023

                        It's downright shameful that a respectable (?) public insurer like the Life Insurance Corporation of India has the cheek to give me the same reply that was given to me in 2010 when I had appealed to it asking for a reply to why my wages were repudiated despite beng on the rolls of its service in 2007. 

                        My wages had been repudiated from 1st August, 2007 to 2nd July 2010.

                        The said clause 3 i has been declared 'ultra vires' (unconstitutional) by the Supreme Court in 2007. The Management of the Corporation had even stated in the reply to my RTI Appeal that the Central Government takes the decision to repudiate the arrears whereas actually the Management of LIC of India takes this obnoxious and illegal decision and sends it for ratification to the Parliament. Even the CIC agreed, after I presented my case, that the Government was just ratifying the decision taken by LIC's Management.

                        What's even more shocking is that it has been persisting with its illegal act with the full support of the Government of India, since 1997. As you're aware, a Gazette Notification is published as a Charter of Wage Revision, by the Government of India.

                        "Justice delayed is justice denied" as the old adage goes. Will we, the long suffering, resigning ex-employees of the Corporation ever get justice with this pathetic state of affairs of a state-owned insurer of LIC of India's stature? An esteemed Corporation with an IPO, which even lies to the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister of the nation?

                       As I had informed you through my first letter, my husband needs long-term or even life-long treatment for his ailment and is currently under observation after a major surgery. I need finances to look after his and my health. I am only asking for my hard-earned dues, not even charity. 

                      Besides, the Corporation has wilfully defrauded the exchequer of crores of rupees as the income-tax which would have been payable to it after payment of arrears to us, and could have been charged to us; has been avoided by the Corporation for 26 years!

                      Importantly, the amounts of wage revision arrears payable to all of us have not been shown in the Balance Sheet of the Corporation at all, as liabilities. So the Balance Sheet and Financial Statements are in fact, erroneous. This is a serious lapse on the Corporation's and the Government's part as the Corporation has been listed on the stock exchange. Even the sister concerns of the Corporation, like the 4 general insurance companies, LIC Mutual Funds and LIC Housing Finance follow the same route of repudiation citing the corresponding clause in their respective wage revision charters. If this isn't a financial fraud (read scam!) of huge ramifications, (with potentially serious repercussions in future), what is? 

                      In your capacity as the Head of State, I request you to kindly urge the Corporation to immediately give you answers with all the details of the 21 questions that I had put forth to it, through my RTI appeal in 2011.

                      I am including the same as a post-script here, alongwith an extract of the Hon'ble Supreme Court's judgment.

                      I request you to direct the Corporation to pay all my dues as well as those of others, immediately with compound interest till date.

                      Kindly do the needful at the earliest and oblige.

                      Thanking you,

                                                                                                                      Yours sincerely,

                                                                                                                      Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan

P.S. The Government could just take the advice of its esteemed legal advisors and immediately sort out this long-outstanding issue to avoid any questions by LIC's investors in future.

                        

My Blog:

 

L.I.C of India betrays its resigning employees’ Good Faith!

 

                                                   Shocking but true!

             
           L.I.C of India betrays its resigning employees’ Good Faith!

It repudiates Arrears’ payment and difference in Retirement dues to its resigning employees.

   
      The Life Insurance Corporation of India, the number one life insurer in the whole world, has not paid arrears of wage payments and arrears of difference payable under Statutory retirement benefits like Provident Fund and Gratuity, due to its resigning employees; since the 1^st of August 1997, as revealed by answers to my RTI application. Revision of the wage bill in the Corporation is done after a period of every five years, but the notification is invariably delayed and the arrears are always paid after a gap of three years after they are actually due.

      The Board of Directors of LIC of India has taken the decision to repudiate the arrears and sent it to the Finance Ministry for approval, though it is a purely administrative decision and not a policy decision. Only policy decisions involving public interest need to be referred to the Finance Ministry. The decision of the Finance Ministry also needs to be analyzed as to why it approved the Corporation’s decisions without due consideration of their legality and Court Judgments on the issue.

     The Corporation has adopted a strategy of depriving its voluntarily resigning employees, that is those who are retiring before twenty years of service, of their legitimate dues by simply resorting to announcement of the notification after inclusion of a clause in a Gazette notified by the Finance Ministry of India, that such employees will not be eligible for payment of arrears. This effectively means that even if a resigning employee has been in service, that is, on roll of the Corporation on the date from which the arrears were effective, he/she will not be eligible to get arrears’ payment. This is illegal as wages are rights of an employee, according to our Indian Constitution and Labor Laws.

For instance, I had resigned after 18.5 years of service on 2^nd July 2010 and the notification for payment of arrears due from 1^st August 2007 was announced on 11th October, 2010. Legally, I was entitled to the arrears of difference in my wages from 1^st August 2007 to 2^nd July 2010 but it was denied on the basis of this Gazette and subsequent Circular’s notification by the Corporation.

     Similarly, the Provident Fund and Gratuity being Statutory retirement benefits, their difference will also have to be paid as per the revised, enhanced wages. All the allowances, perks, etc. would also have to be calculated accordingly and the difference would have to be paid to that resigning employee.

The Corporation wrongly differentiates between the two classes of voluntarily resigning employees as those who have completed 20 years of service and those who have resigned before completing 20 years of service. The first class is entitled to the Wage Revision Arrears’ Payments and the second class isn’t entitled to it! Since the wage revisions were announced for all the employees of the Corporation, as a class, the Corporation should not deny the benefits to the resigning employees.

Besides, the Minutes of the Corporation’s Board Meeting with points regarding recommendations made to the Finance Ministry, for repudiation of arrears and retirement benefits; have not been given to me as they are not available with the Corporation! There is also no rationale on record; of this decision by the Corporation, as revealed by the replies received from the Corporation, in response to the RTI Application made by me; to L.I.C of India.

 The Corporation has also replied that the Central Government takes this decision to repudiate arrears’ payments and hence it has repudiated arrears’ and other allied retirement benefits. In fact, it is the Managing Board of Directors of LIC of India, which takes this decision.

LIC of India has 115 Divisional Offices, 8 Zonal Offices, 9 Audit Centres, MDC and Central Office, as per the RTI replies. The total number of resigning employees whose arrears have been repudiated, since 1997 will be in thousands, and the total repudiated amount since 1997 will surely amount to crores of rupees.

The Corporation has refused to answer my RTI queries for details regarding the names, addresses, phone numbers and number of employees who have been denied the arrears payments and difference in retirement and other benefits due to them, as also the actual amount repudiated. The Central Office has given a list of 40 resigning employees, for 2010; and given an affidavit dated 4^th April, 2014, that no other information apart from that given to me in response to my RTI queries, is on its records.

     Interestingly, it refuses to part with this vital information on the grounds that it does not have this information in a centralized form in its Central Office. This is not true as all the information is sent by all the subsidiary offices of the Corporation to its Central Corporate Office in Mumbai regularly on a monthly basis. The Corporation’s Central Office compiles, consolidates and prepares the Final Trial Balance, Balance sheet and other Accounting Statements on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis and annually presents the same in the Parliament as it is a Public Sector Organization.

     The Central Office server in its I.T. Department has the entire record of all the employees, (in the form of ‘Employee Masters’) of the Corporation and the details of all the resigning employees of the Corporation are updated as and when they retire from service.

     The Corporation has a highly organized and computerized set-up and all its records are computerized, hence it is hard to believe that it cannot reply to those queries in my RTI Application which pertain to information about such employees who have been short-changed by it; and the mind-boggling amounts involved.

     The amounts repudiated haven’t even been accounted for, by the LIC of India in its books of accounts. Had these arrears payments been made, the Income-tax against these payments would have been sent to the Income-Tax Department. Thus this action of LIC of India has even led to a revenue loss to the Central Government exchequer. The Balance Sheet of LIC of India, a reputed Public Sector organization, will also not reflect the correct picture of its financial status.

      Interestingly, the Gazette notifications G.S.R. 824 (E), 825 (E), 826 (E), 2470 (E), issued by the Ministry of Finance, dated 8^th October, 2010; contain a point in their Explanatory Memorandum stating: “It is certified that no employee of the Life Insurance Corporation of India is likely to be affected adversely by the notification being given retrospective effect.”

     Besides, the Supreme Court has already passed a judgment asking the Corporation to pay such arrears to retired employees, in its 2008 judgment. Thus, wasn’t the Corporation guilty of Contempt of Court, if it still persisted in referring to the Finance Ministry for approval, subsequent Gazette notification with the same clause 3 1) b) regarding repudiation of arrears (send proviso of Para 3 of the Notification dated 21^st December 2005 is struck sown being ultra vires to the extent it deprives the petitioner and other similarly situated persons to get the benefit of revised pay scale with effect from 1^st August 2002 after applying the principle of severability. Supreme Court's decision- Petitioner VS GIC) and then issuing an official Circular dated 11^th October, 2010?

     The evasive and lackadaisical response of the Corporation shows that it lacks transparency in its dealings, its records are not maintained properly; it does not follow standard accounting procedures and fair HR practices.

     The Corporation is a trustee of trillions of public money. To its credit, it has been regularly making Claim payments to the beneficiaries of its insurance policies, and has the lowest ratio of claims repudiated, in the whole world. Why can’t it play fair with its resigning employees and pay them their dues, gracefully? Is it too much to ask for?

     Hence I request all those employees who have resigned from the Public Sector Insurance companies (LIC, GICs and LICHFL) and not been paid arrears and other retirement benefits and allied dues, to come forward, send their names, phone numbers, e-mail ids, addresses and employment particulars (in these companies), etc. to me; so that we can collectively fight for justice.  You may post your comments and details online on this blog.
     I have also started a new thread of discussion- 'LIC of India repudiates wage arrears' payment'; on the website www.lawyersclubindia.com/Labour and Service law/Service. You may also post your feedback there.

                                                                             Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan

The copyright of this write-up is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

SUNDAY 11 MAY 2014

My R.T.I. queries to L.I.C. of India

 

1.      What is the official reason, because of which my arrears payment and difference in retirement benefits were repudiated during Wage Revision payment in the latest Wage Revision Charter dated 11^th October, 2010?

2.      Kindly provide me a copy of the gazette and official notification, along with information about which specific provisions of the gazette and official notification justify or state that I should not be given the arrears due w.e.f August 2007?

3.      Please furnish me a copy of Names, Addresses, Telephone/Mobile nos., Branch Nos., Branch addresses, D.O. Nos. and D.O. addresses of all the employees of LIC of India, who were denied arrears’ payment under the Charter dated 11^th October, 2010.

4.       Were any of the above employees paid the arrears amount by LIC of India?  If so, why, when and by whom? Names and other details as in (3) above, to be furnished. Documentary proof to be provided by LIC of India. 

5.      Is there any case filed by any such employee, whose arrears’ payment was repudiated by LIC of India, against LIC of India; in respect of any such Charter.  If so, details about the case—Name of the appellant, B.O. and D.O. addresses, residential and official address, telephone/mobile no., Charter Date (in respect of any such charter, including the latest one) and copy of the judgement.

6.      What was the outcome of the case as in (5) above?  Documentary proof to be provided by the LIC of India.

7.      No. of resigning employees all over India and the total amount repudiated (of arrears’ payment by LIC of India) with bifurcation in respect of each such employee; in the Charter dated 11^th October, 2010 applicable w.e.f August 2007.

8.      No. of employees, names, addresses, telephone/mobile nos. and amounts repudiated respectively (in respect of each one) under all the Charters of Wage Revisions (Previous 5 Charters, excluding the latest one) and their Branch Nos., Addresses of Branches, D.O. Nos., Addresses of D.O.s also to be provided.

9.      Since which year or which Charter has LIC of India started repudiating arrears’ payment legitimately due, to its resigning employees; and why?

10.  Details of the exact legal provisions and clauses on the bases of which LIC of India has arrived at its premise of refusing to pay Arrears’ payment and subsequent difference in retirement benefits to its resigning employees.

11.  Who takes this crucial decision to repudiate arrears’ payment to the employees?  The Government of India or LIC of India?  Details to be provided with documentary proof.

12.  The total no. of transactions effected under my S.R. No. 441595 from 1^st August, 2007 to 2^nd July, 2010, the last date of my service in LIC of India.

13.  Copy of the note or letter put up to the Chairman, LIC of India for the final decision regarding my resignation.

14.  Copy of the final approval of my resignation by LIC of India.

15.  Documents pertaining to the Board Meetings of LIC of India wherein this resolution to repudiate arrears of resigning employees; has been taken. Kindly provide Minutes of the Meetings with signatures of all the attending members.

16.  With reference to my representation letters dated 20-10-2010 (addressed to the Executive Director, Personnel, LIC of India) and 20-11-2010 (addressed to the Chairman, LIC of India), sent through Speed Post and subsequent e-mails dated 22-10-10, 26-10-10, 01-11-10, 08-11-10, 13-11-10, 16-11-10, 20-11-10, 27-11-10, 04-12-2010, 06-12-2010, 09-12-2010, 13-12-2010, 21-12-2010, 24-12-2010, 25-12-2010, 30-12-2010, 04-01-2011, 13-01-2011, 17-01-2011, 28-01-2011, 31-01-2011, 08-02-2011; why were they not replied to immediately?  Why was there an inordinate delay of 8 months for a single line unsatisfactory reply vide letter dated 14-03-2011, received by me on 07-06-2011, that too replied to; not by the addressees of my letters, but by the lower office (Pune Divisional Office No.1)?  Kindly provide an explanation letter.

17.  Copy of the LIC of India, Staff Regulations, 1960 and subsequent modifications/amendments therein, if any.

18.  Names, phone numbers and official addresses of the current Chairman, Officiating Chairman, Executive Directors, Managing Directors and Sr. Divisional Manager of Pune Divisional Office 1; LIC of India

19.  Please provide a list of applicants for Wage Revision arrears’ payments in respect of the Charter dated 11^th October, 2010 during the last 16 months, giving names, dates of application and dates on which replies were issued by LIC of India.

20.   What are the factors due to which the Wage Revision Charter is delayed inordinately, every time that it is legitimately due?

21.   a) Does the LIC of India, Staff Regulations, 1960 and subsequent modifications/amendments therein, if any, contain any clause wherein it is mentioned that arrears payment after Wage Revision due to a Charter notification, may be denied to an employee on roll of the LIC of India in the period for which the Charter has been announced?

              b) If so, kindly point out the requisite provision or clause with adequate, satisfactory explanation/rationale.

              c) Does this denial of arrears payment and difference in retirement benefits, agree in principle, with the labour laws applicable in India?

*******************************************************************************

The copyright of this write-up is with Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan.

 

TUESDAY 30 DECEMBER 2014

LIC Gazette Notification 2010 - Class II employees (Development Officers)

The same clause that applies for Class 1 Officers, which states that resigning employees are not eligible for arrears' payment, applies to Class II and Class III and IV of LIC and GIC employees too.

GIC comprises of 4 companies, New India Assurance, United India Assurance, National Insurance and Oriental Insurance Company. Besides, LICMF, GICHFL & LICHFL's employees would have also been affected by the same clause, which has been declared as ultra-vires by the Supreme Court in 2007. One can just imagine how many ex-employees, all together, in all these Life and Non-Life Public Sector insurance companies have been illegally deprived of their hard-earned dues! LIC has not divulged details regarding total number of ex-employees throughout the Corporation, since 1997, whose arrears have been repudiated and the amounts repudiated against each of their accounts, etc. in reply to my RTI application.

As even the Statutory Retirement benefits like Provident Fund and Gratuity would have been eligible for difference in payment as per revised rates, this repudiation, running to the tune of billions of rupees, is a scam of huge ramifications.

It is therefore very surprising that this issue has not been highlighted or debated about, anywhere in any print or electronic media, any time in the past, as per my knowledge, since 1997, when the first batch of payments to resigning ex-employees was repudiated.

I had sent the report contained in my first blog post to the Press Trust of India (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai), The Times of India (Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai), Open Magazine, Mumbai Mirror (Their inbox was full, hence the message appeared as 'not delivered') and Youth Ki Aawaz portal. Not a single one of them replied back or acknowledged my e-mail, or got back to me for information, barring the Youth Ki Aawaz portal which also developed cold feet and refused to publish my report.

 

 

Salient rulings by the Supreme Court regarding the Wage Revision Charter

 

Consider this extract from a Supreme Court judgment, in 2007: 

SC - "Proviso of Para 3 is struck sown ultra vires"

 K. S. Raina.                                                                                       -      ------------Petitioner.

                        Versus

Union of India and others.                                                                         --------Respondents.

Coram:

The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Rajiv Sharma, Judge.

Whether approved for reporting?*                                    Yes.

For the Petitioner:                                                  Ms. Ranjana Parmar, Advocate.

For Respondent No. 1:                                         Ms. Shilpa Sood,

Central Government Counsel.

For Respondents No. 2 & 3:                                Mr. Ashwani Sharma, Advocate.

Rajiv Sharma, J.

 

It has come in the supplementary affidavit filed on behalf of respondent No. 2 that the wage revision of the employees of the nationalized insurance companies follows a periodicity of five years, i.e. 1^st August 1987, 1^st August 1992, 1^st August 1997 and 1^st August 2002. Thus, it is evident that in normal circumstances wage revision should have taken place in the year 2002 instead of 2005.

 

Classification made by the employer on the basis of seeking premature retirement on the basis of two sets of retirement schemes is not sustainable being irrational and discriminatory. 

 

The petitioner has a constitutional right to get his pay including the revision in the pay scale and it is settled law by law the fundamental rights can neither be waived off nor bartered away.

 

The action of the respondents is not supported by any rational basis or intelligible differentia.

In the present case the petitioner was in fact in employment as on 1^st August 2002, the date from which the Notification (Annexure P-4) dated 21^st December 2005 has been made applicable.

 

Consequently, in view of the observations made above, send proviso of Para 3 of the Notification dated 21^st December 2005 is struck sown being ultra vires to the extent it deprives the petitioner and other similarly situated persons to get the benefit of revised pay scale with effect from 1^st August 2002 after applying the principle of severability.

 

According, the petition is allowed. The petitioner is held entitled to get the revised pay scale corresponding to his post he was occupying as on 1^st August 2002 till 15^th March 2004. The respondents are directed to work out the arrears etc. within six weeks from today.

 

December 3, 2007                                                                                      (Rajiv Sharma), J.

****************************************************************************************************************************

 

Source: Supreme Court and High Court judgments relating to Insurance. 

                                                                                                

 

 Extract

 

An order passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No. 1289 of 2007 - Life Insurance Corporation of India and others v. Retirement L.I.C. Officers Association and others, decided on 12.2.2008

Revision of scales of pay as also other allowances is technical in nature. When a benefit is extended to a group of employees the effect of such benefit, if otherwise comes within the purview thereof must be held to be applicable to other groups of employees also. An employee is entitled to gratuity. It is not a bounty. It is payable on successful tenure of service. Regulation 77 provides as to how the amount of gratuity is to be calculated. Regulation 51 provides for a rule of measurement. Only because it employed the word “permanent basic pay”, the same will not itself lead to the conclusion that once an employee has retired, he would not be entitled to any revision of the amount of gratuity.

26. The Chairman of the Corporation has himself given a retrospective effect to revision in scales of pay. Such a retrospective effect has also been given so as to benefit a class of employees. The employees, irrespective of the fact whether they had superannuated or not, were given the benefit of arrears of pay from Ist August, 1993. By reason of grant of such benefit both to serving employees as also the superannuated employees, both the class of employees became entitled thereto as of right. If by reason thereof, even a retired employee, as on the date of retirement, became entitled to the benefit of the revised scale of pay, the same for all intent and purpose must be taken to be the permanent basic pay, apart from other allowances, if any, which are required to be taken into consideration for the purpose of computation of the amount of gratuity.”

Later, the Hon'ble Supreme Court found that fixation of cut off date by the Chairman of the Corporation is beyond the powers conferred upon him by the Statute.

In view of the aforesaid judgment, the present writ petition is allowed in the same terms as ordered by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, with directions to the respondents to grant the consequential benefits to the petitioners within a period of three months.

04-07-2008

ds

(HEMANT GUPTA)

JUDGE

L.I.C of India is in a race with Rip Van Winkle

 Dear friends,

 I had written to the Prime Minister of India, regarding my lone crusade to get my wage revision arrears and difference in retirement benefits; on wage revision. The Corporation had illegally, arbitrarily and unjustly repudiated it in 2010, though I was in service in 2oo7 from which the arrears were to be paid to me. So from 1st August, 2007 till 2nd July, 2010, my wages' arrears have not been paid. 

 The same injustice has been going on from 1st August, 1997 till date. The Corporation keeps pasing the buck to the Government which has ratified the Charter of Wage Revision and brought out a Gazette for the same. The management takes this illegal decision, charter after charter and the Government keeps toeing its line by ratifying it, and bringing out a Gazette; without considering the Supreme Court's ruling on this issue. Scores of resigning ex-employees are in the same boat as me and I'm crusading for all of them as well. The Corporation refused to share their particulars as well as the amounts totally repudiated, since 1997; for obvious reasons! 

 In the words of the CPIO, WZO of LIC of India, "LIC will never give you any information as it will open a Pandora's Box. Your Appeal will be closed within a month. You are banging your head against a brick wall. You will surely lose the case even if you go to court." He was flustered as I had asked the CIC to impose a penalty on the concerned officials, (including him) for not giving me the information within the stipulated days' time. He had conveniently forgotten about our similar sinking feeling on the Corporation's repudiation of our hard earned, wage revision's arrears. 

 My RTI appeals and re-appeals have fallen on deaf ears. SO TOO, MY APPEALS TO THE PRIME MINISTER AND FINANCE MINISTER OF INDIA!

 Consider the latest reply by the Corporation, which is the same as given to me in 2010. Kndly note that my crusade has completed 13 years! Do peruse my other blog at uberrimafides.licindia.com which has all the details and scanned images of my RTI appeals and correspondence with the Corporation and the Government. 

I believe in total transparency, unlike LIC of India which was reprimanded by the CIC in my RTI appeal's hearing through videconferencing; in which she told the Coporation's CPIO in no uncertain terms: "Please be transparent (in your dealings) in future" when I pointed out that he was lying. Well, some things and people don't change ever! 

Need I repeat the popular Hindi adage? 

 Do peruse this email sent by LIC of India, to me, which was undoubtedly sent on a prod from the PMO's office and the Finance Ministry; who conveniently evaded replying to me or even taking any action against the wrongdoers. Now we know where the problem lies! (In fact, I had expected them to set things right, not put the ball again in the bad player's court!) So things are back to square one now! 

 For the record, the Government owns LIC of India and the other national non-life insurers. This injustice plagues all these companies. The Government can't just wash its hands off this important issue of a Company listed on the Stock Exchange. Our nation's reputation and credibility is at stake. (INTERESTINGLY, THE GOVERNMENT HAS NOT YET ACTUALLY ACKNOWLEDGED ANY OF MY CORRESPONDENCE! SO MUCH FOR DIGITAL INDIA!) 

 We can wake up a person who is sleeping but not someone who is pretending to sleep. Especially the Corporation's Managing Board of Directors who will put even the legendary Rip Van Winkle to shame!

 Only, I repeat, only the Honorable Prime Minister can awaken them. For that, he has to take matters in his own hands, with the help of the Government’s legal advisors. Please stem the rot, we say! 

 My suggestions:

 1. Ask the Management to revise their illegal decision, the records of which are not even there with LIC (as revealed through my RTI appeal) in a Board Meeting's MINUTES. Neither has the reason been revealed. The concerned official, CPAIO, CO, Ms. Saroj Dikhale had stated that there is no reason on record for the repudiation. Which means that the decision itself is arbitrary! 

 2. Place that revised decision by LIC of India to pay us all our dues with immediate effect with compound interest; in the Parliament, ratify it and bring out a Gazette after due amendments in the requisite clauses of The Insurance Act. This can be done alongwith the current Charter due in 2023. 

 3. Ask the Corporation to pay up. Rest assured, dear friends, my crusade for justice will continue, nevertheless.... 

 

There's always light at the end of the tunnel! AND Where there is a will, there is definitely a way! (Out of the tunnel!) 

 Hoping for some very good and long-awaited news in the coming New Year 2024 for all of us. I'm a die-hard optimist who always believes in 'Satyameva Jayate'. Priya

 (The next blog contains my latest letter, sent as an email, to the Honorable Prime Minister of India, Do read it and post your comments here. Thanks.) 

 LIFE INSURANCE CORPORATION OF INDIA PUNE DIVISIONAL OFFICE 1 "JEEVAN PRAKASH" UNIVERSITY ROAD PUNE-411005 

 Ref:OS/PUNE-1/23-24 Date: 13.12.2023 

 To, Mrs. Priya.R.Swaminathan 

 Ref. :Payment of wage revision arrears and difference in terminal benefit(CPRGRAMS complaint)

 Respected Madam, 

 With reference to above we would like to inform you that you had resigned from Corporation on 2nd July 2010 and as per Wage revision Notification 2007 which is applicable to you "Circular no. ZD/1159/ASP/2010 Dt. 11th October, 2010 chapter no, 3(i) Eligibility Class - 1 officer whose resignation had been accepted on or before notification irrespective of whether they are relieved or not during the period between 01.08.2007 to 08.10.2010 shall not be eligible for the arrears on account of this revision". Please note as per abover chapter 3(i) you are not eligible for any wage revision arrears payment and difference of retirement benefits and other allied dues. 

 Manager (OS) 

 My reply to LIC of India 15.12.2023

 To, The HOD, Pension Cell LIC of India, Pune D.O. 1 

 Respected Sir/Madam, 

 It's astonishing that you have sent the same reply to me even after 13 years! LIC of India needs a reality check. Kindly walk the talk when it comes to dealing fairly and justly with everyone. 

With regards, 

 Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan 

 pension.pune1 Attachments Fri, Dec 15, 12:31 PM (2 days ago)

Vigilance week in LIC

A Relationship of Trust - L.I.C of India, 1st September, 2023

     Today is L.I.C of India's 67th Anniversary. It is also 26 years since it has broken our trust in the Corporation by betraying us, resigning ex-employees. The Corporation has been wilfully, illegally, arbitrarily and unconstitutionally repudiating the arrears payments due on wage revision; to its resigning ex-employees, since 1997. 

     These payments are applicable to all employees of the Corporation as a class of employees; as per the Supreme Courts directives.  

     Despite a Supreme Court ruling that states that L.I.C cannot create two different classes of employees for the above-mentioned payments, one that is eligible to receive and the other ineligible to receive; the unscrupulous Corporation does just that, during every Charter that is announced for Wage Revision.

     It does so, through a clause which has been declared as 'ultra vires' (unconstitutional) by the Supreme Court in 2007. Thus it acts in a "Contempt of Court" manner, brazenly defying the laws of our nation.

     I have recently written a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Sri Narendra Modiji to ensure that we get justice. We should be given our dues with compound interest. I haven't yet received any reply for that letter sent by Registered A.D. Nor have I received any confirmation regarding receipt of my email that I sent as a reminder to him as well as the P.M.O's office.

     It is dejavu for me again, after my long R.T.I struggle to get replies from the Corporation regarding its wrongdoings and getting insincere, half-baked replies to only 3 out of my 21 questions. The same Corporation that rattles off statistics about its growth and performance on various parameters, at the drop of a hat; curiously evaded giving me replies to basic questions such as the total number of employees whose arrears had been repudiated as well as the huge amounts repudiated illegally since 1st August, 1997. No reason exists on its records, for such repudiation! So it is arbitrary.

     So the Central Government's silence proves that those whom we rely on for justice, will keep on betraying us or ignoring us as if we don't exist at all! 

     I hope that the Honorable Prime Minister, with his usual "Can Do" attitude, has set things rolling for our payments...

    It is downright shameful when L.I.C of India claims today that "Trust is the foundation of any relationship... On our 67th Foundation Day, we thank you all for trusting us at every stage of your life and giving us the responsibility to protect and fulfil your dreams," yet keeps vital information and our legally rightful dues out of our reach! Doesn't it have any responsibility toward us? The fact that it is a premier government owned life insurance company, makes its cavalier attitude more unwarranted.

    All of us had also worked for many years in the Corporation to just be deprived of our dues when we needed them the most. I had worked sincerely for 18.5 years. 

    We, the long-suffering, resigning ex-employees of L.I.C of India request the Managing Board of Directors to kindly take a wise and just decision to pay us all our dues with compound interest and then make such tall statements of platitude. Or else this day will always remind us of our tremendous loss and the Corporation's unscrupulous gain at our expense!

     "Ek Atoot Rishta Bharose Ka" shouldn't just remain in print, in an advertisement in The Times of India, but should be implemented in actual practice!

      Kindly reinstate our trust in L.I.C of India.

      For those of you who would like to have all details regarding my lone crusade since 2010, for justice for myself as well as others sailing in the same boat as me; please peruse my blog at uberrimafideslicindia.blogspot.com.

Email to the Hon'ble Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modiji and the P.M.O

 Dated 4th August, 2023

My 'Urgent Request' letter for payment of arrears due from L.I.C of India.

To,

Sri Narendra Modiji,

Hon'ble Prime Minister of India

New Delhi

Sub. : Payment of Wage Revision Arrears and Difference in Statutory Retirement Benefits and other allied dues, by L.I.C of India.

Ref. : My 'Urgent Request' letter dated 18th June, 2023; sent to you on 22nd June, 2023 through Registered Post, Acknowledgement Due.

Respected Sir,

                       With reference to the above, kindly let me know the progress in the matter as it is very urgent.

                        I didn't receive the acknowledgement from your office, with respect to my letter as referred to above.

                        Hence, I'm sending this email. Kindly acknowledge receipt and oblige.

                        Kindly assure me that the matter is receiving topmost priority and will reach its logical conclusion, i.e. payment of long outstanding dues with compound interest, to all the resigning ex-employees of the Corporation who have suffered due to the illegal repudiation of arrears by the Corporation since 1997.

                        I'm submitting the same letter here, for your ready reference. I am also attaching the same.

                       We hope that you will take prompt and appropriate action and oblige. 

                        Thanks and warm regards.

                                                                                               Yours respectfully,

                                                                                   Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan

************************************************************************************************************************Dear friends,

                          I haven't received any response or acknowledgement for this communication too! Hope this communication doesn't go the L.I.C way. After repudiation of arrears, I had corresponded with L.I.C of India, through a registered letter and 22 emails thereafter, for asking why it had repudiated my Wage Revision Arrears and received no response. 

                          Then I had filed an R.T.I application. That was the First Appeal. Then the Second Appeal followed... Then the C.I.C closed the case with a generic response that has almost become a template and is since then being given to each person who files an R.T.I appeal for the same reason as mine. Now that I have started corresponding with the Hon'ble Prime Minister and the Prime Minister's Office (P.M.O), let's hope and pray that my efforts don't go in vain again. I have started getting a sense of de' javu!

                          But then, think about it deeply! If the Hon'ble Prime Minister also can't resolve this long-standing vexed issue, who can?

                          Again, I always believe in "Where there is a will, there is a way!" and the watchwords "Patience and Perseverance". My lone crusade against L.I.C's grave injustice has been ongoing for 13 long years. Now it is "Do or Die", with dire circumstances at home. My motto "Never give up" props me up daily to keep going...

                         God willing, we'll soon see light at the end of the tunnel. I'm hopeful that the Hon'ble Prime Minister's timely intervention will work wonders on L.I.C's inertia.

                         We all will get the fruits of our patience in the form of our arrears and difference in retirement benefits and allied benefits with compound interest and damages, from L.I.C of India. 

                                                              SATYAMEVA JAYATE!

                                                                                                            Your friend,

                                                                                                            Priya

My letter to the Prime Minister, Sri Narendra Modi - Urgent Request

 

Date: 18th June, 2023

To,

Sri Narendra Modiji,

Hon'ble Prime Minister of India,

The Prime Minister's Office,

152, South Block,

Raisina Hill,

New Delhi - 110011                                                         

                                                                     URGENT REQUEST

Respected Sir,

                              Subject: 1. Illegal repudiation of arrears due to me (and other resigning ex-employees); by L.I.C of India, my ex-employer and the Government of India, after delayed Wage Revision (due on 1st August, 2007) but notified on 8th October, 2010.

                                        2. Non-payment of Statutory Retirement Benefits like Provident Fund and Gratuity on an enhanced basis after the said Wage Revision.

                                        3. No option given to us for opting for Pension (which was given later to other employees)

                                        4. No intimation was given to me and the other resigning ex-employees about possibility of repudiation of arrears, etc. when we submitted our resignation letters.

                                        5. Urgent request to direct the Life Insurance Corporation of India to settle all the dues of the resigning ex-employees, since 1st August, 1997. The Wage Revision Arrears have been continuously and illegally/unconstitutionally/arbitrarily repudiated for 26 years, without any reason; as proved by the Corporation's answers to my RTI queries!

                                        6. My husband has just had a major surgery for Colorectal Cancer and is convalescing. His treatment will most probably be life-long or long-term. He will need to go in for regular, expensive, scanning and other diagnostic tests. I had to borrow huge amounts from relatives to supplement my inadequate funds. Instead of constantly depending on others who have their own problems, I request you to ensure that I get all my said dues, as above-mentioned with Compound Interest from 1st August, 2007, when they were actually payable to me; till date (16 years, in my case!). These funds will provide me with some relief from availing loans.

                                        7. Costs of sending representations, correspondence, filing RTI Appeals, photocopying expenses, commuting, mental and physical harassment, losses due to wastage of productive man-hours spent on representations/appeals; should also be paid to all of us. You may decide an appropriate amount and request L.I.C to pay the same to all of us. Similarly, other resigning ex-employees must also get their dues, as they may also be facing financial problems.

                                      

                              Reference: The Gazette Notification dated 8th October, 2010; and the previous and subsequent Gazette Notifications.

                                                     

                              I, the undersigned, had resigned when I was an Assistant Administrative Officer, in Pune Camp Branch Office No. 953 (Pune Divisional Office No.1), after 18.5 years of service on 2nd July 2010. The Gazette notification for payment of arrears due from 1st August 2007 was announced on 11th October, 2010. Legally, I was entitled to the arrears of difference in my wages from 1st August 2007 to 2nd July 2010 but it was denied on the basis of this Gazette and subsequent Circular’s notification by the Corporation.

                             Similarly, the Provident Fund and Gratuity being Statutory Retirement Benefits, their difference will also have to be paid as per the revised, enhanced wages. All the allowances, perks, etc. would also have to be calculated accordingly and the difference would have to be paid to me and all the resigning ex-employees.

                             The Corporation wrongly differentiates between the two classes of voluntarily resigning employees as those who have completed 20 years of service and those who have resigned before completing 20 years of service. The first class is entitled to the Wage Revision Arrears’ Payments and the second class isn’t entitled to it, despite putting in long, sincere and dedicated years of service! Since the wage revisions were announced for all the employees of the Corporation, as a class, the Corporation should not deny the benefits to the resigning ex-employees. The Supreme Court has also mentioned this point in its judgement, stating further, that the delay in payment of Wage Revision Arrears is the fault of the Corporation which announces the Charter belatedly; each time that it is due!

                             I am maintaining a blog named uberrimafideslicindia.blogspot.com to highlight the Corporation's gross injustice and to narrate my experience of filing R.T.I Appeals to fight for my constitutional rights to wages, as I was on the salary rolls of the Corporation on the date from which the arrears were payable. Several similarly placed, resigning ex-employees have contacted me to narrate their similar plights.

                            All the scanned documents pertaining to my RTI crusade against L.I.C's injustice, are available on this blog, for your perusal. You could note how the Corporation has evaded giving answers to a majority of my queries! You could also note how the CIC hasn't imposed any penalty on the Corporation for not providing answers, despite my request for the same and instead put the onus on me for obtaining answers from each of the numerous offices of the Corporation! Each aggrieved person who has filed an RTI appeal has received the same response from the CIC! So it has been an exercise in futility! A total wastage of our precious time and meagre resources!

                           The mighty, resource-rich L.I.C of India gets away with illegal repudiation whereas we are made to run from pillar to post to get justice, and even asked to approach courts for justice. As you are well aware, litigation is a time-consuming and expensive affair, one that none of us can really afford. L.I.C takes undue advantage of this fact. So now our only hope is that your intervention will provide us with much-needed relief and justice.

                            Interestingly, many resigning ex-employees (Class I and Class 2) from the Government's four General Insurance Companies, Subsidiaries of Life Insurance like L.I.C Mutual Funds and L.I.C Housing Finance have also approached me to join my crusade against this gross injustice of Wage Arrears' Repudiation.

                            Despite L.I.C of India's large Reserve Fund and Assets amounting to several trillions of rupees, it keeps on illegally and arbitrarily repudiating Wage Revision Arrears of the resigning, ex-employees. It's absolutely pathetic that we have to borrow money from others in times of exigencies, like the one I am currently facing; just because the Corporation has no regard for either the Supreme Court or the laws of the nation and has illegally repudiated our hard-earned dues; despite a Supreme Court ruling in 2007 that the Clause 3 B ii of the Wage Revision Charter is ultra vires! This case is also highlighted in my blog.

                            Kindly look into the matter urgently and consider my request to direct the Life Insurance Corporation of India to settle all the dues of the resigning ex-employees, since 1st August, 1997. The Finance Ministry may also be given the requisite instructions from your end to expedite the process.

                           With reference to point 6 in the 'Subject' as mentioned above, kindly expedite payment of my dues (Wage Revision Arrears and Difference in Statutory Retirement Benefits like Provident Fund and Gratuity, etc.) with Compound Interest from 1st August, 2007, when they were actually payable to me; till date (16 years, in my case!). Costs of filing RTI Appeals, photocopying bills, commuting, mental and physical harassment should also be paid to me and all those of us who have filed RTI appeals.

                            I'd be highly obliged if you'd do the needful and respond favorably at the earliest.

                            Kindly accept my warm regards.

                            Thanking you,              

                                                                                                                    Yours respectfully,

                                                                                                                             

                                                                                                       Mrs. Priya Ramesh Swaminathan

Enclosures: Hospital's Admission Letter and Discharge Card's photocopies.

 

P.S. L.I.C of India still acts in utter "Contempt of Court" manner to repudiate the arrears by incorporating the same wordings, under Clause 3, that were declared as "ultra vires" by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in 2007, and the Government of India (Finance Ministry) also ratifies the same!

Extract from the latest notification of 2021.

[भाग II—खण् ड 3(i)] भारत का राजपत्र : ऄसाधारण 45

NOTIFICATION

New Delhi, the 15th April, 2021

G.S.R. 273(E).—In exercise of the powers conferred by section 48 of the Life Insurance

Corporation Act, 1956 (31 of 1956), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules

further to amend the Life Insurance Corporation of India (Special Area Allowance) Rules, 1988,

namely:-

1. (1) These rules may be called the Life Insurance Corporation of India (Special Area Allowance)

Amendment Rules, 2021.

(2) They shall be deemed to have come into force on the 1st day of August, 2017.

(3) These rules shall be applicable to all employees who were in the whole-time salaried service in

the permanent establishment of the Corporation as on or after the 1st August, 2017:

Provided further that the employee whose resignation had been accepted or whose services had been terminated under rule 39 of Life Insurance Corporation of India (Staff) Rules, 1960 during the period from the 1st August, 2017 to the date of publication of this notification in the Official Gazette, shall not be eligible for the arrears on account of revision.

 

Interestingly, every Wage Revision Charter states the following, in its Explanatory Notes:

 

"It is certified that no officer of the Life Insurance Corporation of India is likely to be affected adversely by the notification being given retrospective effect."

 

But proceeds to illegally and arbitrarily deprive the resigning ex-employees of their hard-earned, constitutional wages, for the periods when they were on the Salary Rolls of the Corporation and in active service!