Monday, July 20, 2009

SU[PER-SENIOR CITIZENS

SANJOG MAHESHWARI

SUPER SENIOR CITIZENS

                                                                                                  -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

 

 

              There should be a standard uniformly applicable definition of senior citizens. Apart from this there should also be a separate category for some citizens who are still more advanced in age say the males 75 and above and the females 70 and above who expect a little bit more compassion and consideration from the State and the society - a few extra benefits, amenities and facilities, over and above the other senior citizens, so that some sunshine could be added in the twilight years of their otherwise drab and cheerless life besieged, as it always is, with sufferings from hosts of terminal debilitating diseases, waging an ever losing struggle for survival against the odds and ravages of “ills, bills, pills” and “empty nest” syndrome. The extra facilities and benefits to these citizens, who may be called “Super-senior citizens” are not going to cost too much to the State particularly because of the severely limited capacity of their bodily and mentally infirm users and also because they are not too many. Reasonably enough, among other things, they richly deserve: (1) Priority in the matter of healthcare and medical facilities (2) across the board 50% concession in the travel charges all classes by Air, train, buses or any other mode of transport with priority in reservation of seat/birth therein (3) total exemption from payment of Income Tax thereby relieving them of the worry of filing returns: except that a token 1% or 2% across the board T.D.S irrespective of the income earned by them may be levied and recovered as their modest contribution or pay back to the Society to be credited under a different revenue-head of account. Depending on their circumstances and other factors they may volunteer for higher percentage cut of T.D.S on income as a token expression of gratitude to the caring Society (4) Priority in grant of accommodation in Old Age Homes, Guest Houses, Rest Houses, Clubs, Hostels etc. so that they may have homes away from home for as long a period as they like, everywhere throughout the country, on concessionary rates.

             

                If the Government takes quick and urgent initiative with the spirit of goodwill and welfare as its driving force, I am sure the private players owning hostels, dharamshalas, guest-houses, buses etc. may also join in the humanitarian endeavour. .

                                                                                                 

                                                                                                  -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

                                                                                                                                         


DOUBLE STANDARD 16-01-09( 1)

SANJOG MAHESHWARI

                                                                                  


DISTURBING DOUBLE STANDARD

                                                                                 -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

 

              While autonomous bodies such as Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) with its country-wide jumbo network of Laboratories and sub-laboratories, hundred percent financed and funded by the Central Government, may be correctly or incorrectly, perceived as white elephants, it should not certainly be the hidden excuse for the Government to mete out step-motherly treatment to the pensioners of these autonomous bodies and discriminate them against their counterparts retired from the Government service in the matter of providing health-care and medical facilities through the agency of the Central Government Health Service (CGHS)..               The denial to them the health-care and medical facilities under the Central Government Health Scheme (C.G.H.S) at par with those made available to the so-called purely government pensioners is one such blatant discrimination that hits where it hurts them most..             

              The government forgets that the hapless autonomous-body pensioners are also worthy senior-citizens of the country. They are as much vulnerable to the age-induced most debilitating, incapacitating, degenerative, and not quite infrequently-terminal diseases and illness, and as inadequately equipped to meet the exorbitant cost involved in their treatment from their own abysmally slender resources, as their counterparts- retirees from the Govt. service- whose cost of treatment in the C.G.H.S empanelled private health-care units and hospitals is borne directly by the government. Thus, while the latter are afforded credit facilities that make them eligible for cashless transactions in the matter of health-care and medical treatment in the recognized private hospitals, diagnostic centres, nursing homes and other health-care centres, the government in blatant discrimination against the former, denies them the same.

              Further the pensioner-beneficiaries of C.S.I.R are required to pay for their treatment at the General Public Rates (G.P.R) and get reimbursement at the Government approved Rates which are just about half the G.P.R. For this, also, they have to run around complying with absurd formalities, placating babus, getting department's permission before and after the treatment, incurring all expenses from their own slender resources on the spot in the first instance irrespective of the enormity of the amount of expenditure involved even in emergent circumstances. . Then irrespective of whether their health permits or not, they have to do several rounds first to get the departmental permission for the treatment then for getting the reimbursement bill on the prescribed forms verified from the treating doctor, then again to the laboratory for its scrutiny only to get reimbursement of completely watered-down bill after several months of making repeated rounds. Cases are not wanting when the reimbursement documents of the claims amounting to thousands of rupees are lost somewhere entailing further miseries to the pensioner-claimant who would, in such cases, rather like to forgo the whole claim than to suffer the harassment- waiting endlessly to get, if lucky enough, the severely retrenched claim.

              They even do not get a permanent CGHS token card for the life and, therefore, are required to revalidate it every calendar year, in spite of the fact that they make full payment for availing CGHS facilities for the whole life prior to their retirement at the same rates and scale as are applicable to their counterpart in the government service. They have no place to go if, unfortunately, they happen to fall ill somewhere outside the place from where they normally get these truncated CGHS facilities.             

              The babus of their department with abnormally swelled egos also take sadistic pleasure in retrenching the claimed amount on the most flimsy grounds (feigning ignorance of the Hon’ble Delhi high court’s verdict that mandates full reimbursement of the expenditure incurred on the medical treatment), and that too after the claim is subjected to several absurd objections settling of which is no less than a punishment.

              The autonomous body pensioner-beneficiaries of CGHS have made several representations to the authorities of the Health Ministry including those to the Hon’ble Minister but all have fallen on deaf ears so far and the victims of this blatant discrimination continue to live under the ever-lengthening shadow of fear and insecurity

              The denial of credit facility and cashless service by private recognized hospitals to the CSIR and other autonomous body pensioners who are CGHS beneficiaries is a cruel, inhuman and heartless joke still being perpetuated on this particular section of hapless senior citizens in the twilight years of their life even though their counterpart retirees from the government have been availing the facility for almost a decade now.              

              Not to be left behind, the autonomous bodies themselves vent their unwarranted wrath on their pensioners. Strange though it may appear, C.S.I.R. pensioners get their arrears of pension/family pension, medical reimbursement etc paid months after they become due and payable only because they have their Savings Bank account in those Nationalised Banks which have not been approved by that particular laboratory from which they retired as it wants them to open the Account in that one only which happens to be its favourite at a particular point in time. Why should they not be allowed to open or continue with the account they are already operating in any other nationalized bank as is the case with any other central government pensioners? Is not opening and operating a bank account at a scheduled bank of his choice, a matter of personal convenience of the concerned individual?  With multi-city banking in vogue what is the problem?  Pay-outs can also be credited in the pensioner’s saving bank account in any scheduled bank through Electronic Clearance System (E.C.S) as well.  What is the justification of coercing them into opening an account in the bank of the Laboratory’s choice only, even when they do not find it convenient to do so and already   have an account in some other nationalised bank?

              If even after decades of non-performance by the C.S.I R., the government decides to spend hundreds of crores annually on it just to keep the show going, despite of being grossly unhappy with it; it is the government’s problem. Why should it take it out on the hapless pensioners of the C.S.I.R?

As respected senior citizens of this country, all pensioners should be treated at par, in all matters be it making provisions for health-care and medical facilities or operating of a Savings Bank account. And if the C.S.I.R is not adequately serving the purpose for which it was established then they should do something about that instead of inflicting unwarranted mental torture and agony on the pensioners for no fault of theirs.                                                                                                                                                                                   -                                                                          -SANJOG MAHESHWARI 



Pension Rules etc-Sanjog Maheshwari

SANJOG MAHESHWARI

                                                                                                                C1-A-42 B M.I.G.FLATS,

                                                                                                  JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI-110058

 

 

              ENSURE COMPLETE PARITY AMONG ALL PENSIONERS

 

                                                                                                  -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

It is good that the Government has, reportedly, agreed to “one rank, one pension” demand of the Armed Forces thereby eliminating all the arbitrarily created disparities and differences between the various sections of the Armed Force pensioners. Similar arbitrarily created differences and disparities among the civil pensioners now need to be addressed and corrected thereby bringing all the pensioners, irrespective of their date(s) of retirement, at par, in all matters related to retiral benefits such as gratuity, family pension, leave encashment etc. on retirement. The date of retirement is now irrelevant for determining the quantum of pension etc. in case of armed personnel and so should also be the case with other Government pensioners. Accordingly, their pension etc. needs to be revised on the basis of their notional basic pay fixed at the proper stage in the new pay scales on every such revision of pay scales since their retirement.

 

Proper pension and pensionary benefits are sacrosanct, protected and greatly valued possession of a Government servant. Denying them to the pensioners whether pre-96 or Pre-2006 tantamount to travesty of justice and violation of Article 14 read with Article 31 (1) [Right to property] of the Constitution.

 

Article 14               mandates “Equality before the law” as a fundamental right of all the citizens. It completely outlaws “unreasonableness and arbitrariness” in executive action. However, these unfortunate elements seem to be deeply embedded in the very psyche of the bureaucracy and invariably factor-in in their decision making processes.

 

              Almost all these worthy super-senior citizens- particularly the  pre-96 pensioners- are over 70,  suffering from hosts of terminal debilitating diseases and struggling to survive the ravages of “ills, bills, pills” and “empty nest” syndromes. They have been crying foul ever since they were wronged. Sixth Pay Commission has also chosen to gloss over the matter and ignore the legitimate claims of Pre-96 pensioners. It is high time that the Government ensured to them the similar COMPLETE parity as granted to the Armed Force pensioners.

 

              Death and terminal diseases are no respecters of age and the government must act fast before it is too late.  It is high time the pension rules framing system is reoriented on the lines prevalent in the U.K. from where it, though originated, materially differs. While in the U.K. the system is governed by and flows from the “Statute”, here in our country instead of the “Statute” it is governed by the rules made in a government department manned by unduly biased bureaucrats for whom the word “reasonableness” does not seem to exist.

                                                                                                                -SANJOG MAHESHWARI.

C1-A-42 B M.I.G.FLATS,

JANAKPURI, NEW DELHI-110058

 

 

 


Friday, July 10, 2009

"DOUBLE STANDARD'

DISTURBING DOUBLE STANDARD
-SANJOG MAHESHWARI

While autonomous bodies such as Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) with its country-wide jumbo network of Laboratories and sub-laboratories, hundred percent financed and funded by the Central Government, may be correctly or incorrectly, perceived as white elephants, it should not certainly be the hidden excuse for the Government to mete out step-motherly treatment to the pensioners of these autonomous bodies and discriminate them against their counterparts retired from the Government service in the matter of providing healthcare and medical facilities through the agency of the Central Government Health Service (CGHS).. The denial to them the health-care and medical facilities under the Central Government Health Scheme (C.G.H.S) at par with those made available to the so-called purely government pensioners is one such blatant discrimination that hits where it hurts them most..
The government forgets that the hapless autonomous-body pensioners are also worthy senior-citizens of the country. They are as much vulnerable to the age-induced most debilitating, incapacitating, degenerative, and not quite infrequently-terminal diseases and illness, and as inadequately equipped to meet the exorbitant cost involved in their treatment from their own abysmally slender resources, as their counterparts- retirees from the Govt. service- whose cost of treatment in the C.G.H.S empanelled private health-care units and hospitals is borne directly by the government. Thus, while the latter are afforded credit facilities that make them eligible for cashless transactions in the matter of health-care and medical treatment in the recognized private hospitals, diagnostic centres, nursing homes and other health-care centres, the government in blatant discrimination against the former, denies them the same.
Further the pensioner-beneficiaries of C.S.I.R are required to pay for their treatment at the General Public Rates (G.P.R) and get reimbursement at the Government approved Rates which are just about half the G.P.R. For this, also, they have to run around complying with absurd formalities, placating babus, getting department's permission before and after the treatment, incurring all expenses from their own slender resources on the spot in the first instance irrespective of the enormity of the amount of expenditure involved even in emergent circumstances. . Then irrespective of whether their health permits or not, they have to do several rounds first to get the departmental permission for the treatment then for getting the reimbursement bill on the prescribed forms verified from the treating doctor, then again to the laboratory for its scrutiny only to get reimbursement of completely watered-down bill after several months of making repeated rounds. Cases are not wanting when the reimbursement documents of the claims amounting to thousands of rupees are lost somewhere entailing further miseries to the pensioner-claimant who would, in such cases, rather like to forgo the whole claim than to suffer the harassment- waiting endlessly to get, if lucky enough, the severely retrenched claim.
They even do not get a permanent CGHS token card for the life and, therefore, are required to revalidate it every calendar year, in spite of the fact that they make full payment for availing CGHS facilities for the whole life prior to their retirement at the same rates and scale as are applicable to their counterpart in the government service. They have no place to go if, unfortunately, they happen to fall ill somewhere outside the place from where they normally get these truncated CGHS facilities.
The babus of their department with abnormally swelled egos also take sadistic pleasure in retrenching the claimed amount on the most flimsy grounds (feigning ignorance of the Hon’ble Delhi high court’s verdict that mandates full reimbursement of the expenditure incurred on the medical treatment), and that too after the claim is subjected to several absurd objections settling of which is no less than a punishment.
The autonomous body pensioner-beneficiaries of CGHS have made several representations to the authorities of the Health Ministry including those to the Hon’ble Minister but all have fallen on deaf ears so far and the victims of this blatant discrimination continue to live under the ever-lengthening shadow of fear and insecurity.
The denial of credit facility and cashless service by private recognized hospitals to the CSIR and other autonomous body pensioners who are CGHS beneficiaries is a cruel, inhuman and heartless joke still being perpetuated on this particular section of hapless senior citizens in the twilight years of their life even though their counterpart retirees from the government have been availing the facility for almost a decade now.
Not to be left behind, the autonomous bodies themselves vent their unwarranted wrath on their pensioners. Strange though it may appear, C.S.I.R. pensioners get their arrears of pension/family pension, medical reimbursement etc paid months after they become due and payable only because they have their Savings Bank account in those Nationalised Banks which have not been approved by that particular laboratory from which they retired as it wants them to open the Account in that one only which happens to be its favourite at a particular point in time. Why should they not be allowed to open or continue with the account they are already operating in any other nationalized bank as is the case with any other central government pensioners? Is not opening and operating a bank account at a scheduled bank of his choice, a matter of personal convenience of the concerned individual? With multi-city banking in vogue what is the problem? Pay-outs can also be credited in the pensioner’s saving bank account in any scheduled bank through Electronic Clearance System (E.C.S) as well. What is the justification of coercing them into opening an account in the bank of the Laboratory’s choice only, even when they do not find it convenient to do so and already have an account in some other nationalised bank?
If even after decades of non-performance by the C.S.I R., the government decides to spend hundreds of crores annually on it just to keep the show going, despite of being grossly unhappy with it; it is the government’s problem. Why should it take it out on the hapless pensioners of the C.S.I.R?
As respected senior citizens of this country, all pensioners should be treated at par, in all matters be it making provisions for healthcare and medical facilities or operating of a Savings Bank account. And if the C.S.I.R is not adequately serving the purpose for which it was established then they should do something about that instead of inflicting unwarranted mental torture and agony on the pensioners for no fault of theirs. - -SANJOG MAHESHWARI

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

CIC DECISION No.CIC/AT/A/2009/00378 DT.26-06-09- A DEVASTATING BOTCH

CIC Decision No. CIC/AT/A/2009/00378 Dt/ 26-06-2009- A Devastating Botch.

It is surprising that the I.C should demonstrate his total ignorance of a basic well settled law that stipulates that as soon as an article is given to the appropriate postal authority to be delivered to a particular addressee it becomes the property of the concerned addressee, pro-tempore held in trust by the postal authority on behalf of the custodian -addressee for the time being till it is delivered to him.(sic). Or was he feigning ignorance of this settled law only to save the otherwise indefensible P.I.O/AA of the public authority in this case recently decided by him under the Right to Information Act-2005 on 26-06-09.(And if it is so for what purpose?) I, for one, refuse to presume that an Authority as high as I.C could be so naïve as to not know what the stipulations of this well settled law, that falls well within the domain of common knowledge, are and that posting of any article through the agency of post office, ipso facto, implies its delivery to the addressee for all intents and purposes thereby making him the custodian of the document(s) posted to him.

Here is a case where the appellant had SPEED POSTED two Medical Reimbursement Bills SEPARATELY ON DIFFERENT DATES FROM DIFFERENT POST OFFICES to the same Public Authority and on their demand produced and submitted to them ‘THE PROOF OF THEIR DELIVERY” after obtaining the CERTIFICATE OF THEIR DELIVERY from the competent POSTAL AUTHORITY to the entire satisfaction of the CONCERNED Public authority and the addressee in this case. Yet the P.I.O feigns ignorance and states that those reimbursement claims were never received by the public authority and they hold no information regarding their processing. They take this stand in spite of the evidence from the postal authority to the contrary. The certificate issued by the competent postal authority clearly shows that the medical reimbursement claim documents sent by the Speed Post were duly delivered on due dates to the registry of the public authority. The copy of the above Postal evidence of delivery of the documents was also submitted to the Public authority on their demand, and twice to the I.C.(a) first with the Complaint dt. 28th September 2008 u/s 18 of the Act and then again (b) with the 2nd Appeal dt.07th March 2009 u/s 19 (3) of the Act.

Now even at the Complaint stage, it should have been possible for the I.C. to call for the certified copy of the pages of the dak registry register for scrutinizing the relevant entries of the dates of delivery of the two documents as indicated by the postal authorities in their certificate of delivery. These were denied to the applicant and obviously concealed by the Public authority lest the truth about their delivery to them should come out in the open to their great embarrassment and consternation.. The I.C willing, even now, it should be possible to get to the truth about their delivery in the first instance. Soon Mr.I.C will know that the representatives of the Public authority have taken him for a ride as much as they duped the Appellant by denying him the requested information provided, of course, he is interested in getting to the truth of the matter even now. It is not for nothing that the competent postal authority has certified the delivery of both the medical claims and documents to the addressee- Public authority and the certificate issued by the Postal authorities in this regard is after all not lying. It is the representatives of the Public Authority who have been lying all the way.. Does it not look eminently odd to you, Mr. I.C.Sir, that out of the two claims, sent from two different post offices on two different dates not a single one could be delivered to the addressee Public authority? And if it really does look odd to you, what prevented you from delving in the truth of the matter in the interests of justice and fair-play? The appellant does not assume( as you have stated) that the claims exist with the respondents; he is dead sure that they do and the Respondents are denying only because being in the denial mode absolves them of all their responsibilities, particularly when the I.C is willing to accommodate their blatant lies even though they do not stand either the scrutiny of the educed and produced evidence or the circumstances of the case. “Relying on lying” is the Mantra that has unfailingly assured them the safe escape route several times in the past as well. No reason for them to believe that will not work now.

The fact of the matter is that both these documents have been duly delivered to the public authority in due course as certified by the competent postal authorities, their entry also duly recorded by the registry of the public authority but the copies of the relevant portion of their recorded entries were not supplied either to the Appellant or to the I.C for the obvious reasons.

The P.I.O must have his very sound reasons to firmly believe that no harm will ever come to him whatever may be the gravity of the offense(s) he commits. And somehow, he is proving abundantly right in his secured beliefs as is evident from this and quite a few other such cases. Siding with the P.I.O( he can not do otherwise), the AA suggests that the Appellant should “bring copies of all relevant papers pertaining to the case/claim if available with him as these may help to resolve the case”. Does he not know that in medical reimbursement case all the papers most of them in original duly verified by the treating medical doctor, original cash memos duly verified , Certificate A signed by the treating medical officer all are required to be submitted with the claim in one go, so “what (other) relevant papers with the appellant” he is talking about.? Instead of going through the few entries on and after the dates of the receipt of the documents as indicated in the certificate of the Postal authority, certificate of their delivery, in the Registry’s dak register, he makes wild and meaningless suggestions; just to shift the onus on to the appellant. And instead of calling the bluff of the AA, the I.C himself joins him by making similar suggestions eschewing the obvious course of action in such circumstances i.e. to educe the truth of the matter and locate the documents in the office of the Public authority.

This could be done even now, only if the I.C. is interested in getting to the truth of the matter. Instead, even after all these abundantly clear indications of the malafide intentions and ulterior motives of the representatives of the Public authority, he suggests that the appellant should have wasted his time, money and energy going on a wild goose chase in the office of the Public authority, only to return totally disgusted, disgruntled and disappointed- a distraught person.

Further, he considers it “eminently reasonable that appellant provides to the respondents a fresh set of documents relating to his medical reimbursement claim”. Can he tell him from where he should get them (from Respondent’s office?)

Entries of the receipt in the Medical claims in the records of the Public Authority’s registry ought to have been scanned, in the first instance, immediately on the receipt of the request of the Appellant. With the needful done at appropriate time, the claims submitted by him more than a year ago, would have been settled long back by now. But who cares? With the I.C. thus solidly backing them where is the need for doing the needful even now?

A team member has rightly observed: “There is something more than what meets the eyes”

What line of action should the appellant now take- Any suggestions? I know of a similar case, where Hon’ble Delhi High Court granted total reimbursement of the Medical claim to the claimant in the similar circumstances, but then not everybody has got that kind of money, energy and time to spend in agitating the law at that stage.

- SANJOG MAHESHWARI

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