Reserve Bank of India move to roll back on 79-yr-old's pension stayed

A Reserve Bank of India circular seeking to roll back an enhanced pension to a 79-year-old man, who had put in 36 years of service in the RBI, was stayed by the Madras high court on Thursday.

D Balakrishna Gupta joined the RBI as a clerk in 1951. He retired as staff officer in 1987, having put in more than 36 years of service. Since he had opted for a pension scheme , he was getting a gross amount of Rs 10,983 as pension. In September 2003, through an administrative circular, the RBI upwardly revised the pension of Gupta and informed him that he would get a gross amount of Rs 14,552.

But after five years, in October 2008, the RBI sent a letter to Gupta informing him that the pension enhancement made in 2003 was impermissible under the RBI Pension Regulations 1990, and that the rise was being withdrawn.

Shocked, Gupta moved the high court, stating that the bank was not fair in unilaterally withdrawing the hike, that too with immediate effect. Once a pension was updated and revised, the RBI cannot again reduce it to the initial amount, he said. He was also not given any opportunity to explain his position before passing the impugned order, he submitted.

Acceding to the submissions, Justice V Ramasubramanian granted interim stay on the operation of the impugned letter of the RBI, and posted the matter to June 15 for further proceedings.
Source: Times of India