Former Deputy Speaker of Assembly Rama Chandra Panda met new Governor SC Jamir at the Raj Bhavan in Bhubaneswar on Friday and gave him a letter of appeal on the grievances of some university employees seeking parity in application of the GPF (Pension) Scheme for those university employees who wish to change their option from CPF Scheme.
Mention may be made that four out of the 35 Berhampur University employees had initially opted the CPF scheme as their retirement benefit as the GPF (Pension) Scheme for the university employees then were not so much streamlined. Realising the value and viability of the GPF (Pension) Scheme in retirement life, these employees made several appeals to the university authorities and the Government seeking permission to change their option from CPF to GPF (Pension) Scheme, but their demand remained unheeded, whereas the Government permitted a Professor to change his option from CPF to GPF considering the same as a special case.
It may be stated here that after realising the need of such a change, the Syndicate of the university has already recommended such change of option anytime before six months of their superannuation to which the Government has not paid any attention yet.
The Section-345 of the University Statute empowers the Chancellor to allow such a change if he considers necessary to deal with the case in a just and equitable manner. Four of the employees, including two Class-IV, who were superannuated between 2010 and 2012, have neither withdrawn their CPF nor are getting their pension. Panda, therefore, made an appeal to the Governor to consider allowing these employees to switch over to the GPF (Pension) in the interest of equity as done in the case of a Professor. As per the Indian Constitution, “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of law…” under the guise of administrative convenience or discretion, he added.