Punjab Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua to head 5-member panel on OPS

Chandigarh, January 27

Taking a step towards implementation of the old pension scheme, the Punjab Government has constituted a five-member committee headed by Chief Secretary Vijay Kumar Janjua to formulate the standard operating procedures (SOP) for the purpose.

A notification to the effect has been issued today by the Finance Department. The other members of the committee include Additional Chief Secretary KAP Sinha, Finance Secretary AK Sinha, Mission Director of National Health Mission Abhinav Trikha and Director (Finance) of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited.

It is learnt that this committee will decide on the roll out of the scheme, its financial implications and the source for getting adequate finances to implement it. Once the committee arrives at a consensus and makes the SOP, it will give its recommendations to a Cabinet Sub-Committee constituted for the purpose.

The Old Pension Scheme is expected to benefit 1.75 lakh employees, who joined service after April 2004. Around 4,000 employees retiring in five years will also benefit from this scheme.

It may be mentioned that the decision to revert from the National Pension Scheme to the Old Pension Scheme was taken by the AAP government in October last year. However, employees have been edgy over the scheme roll-out, as a detailed notification for the same and the SOPs were not announced. The employees have been demanding amendments to the Civil Services Rules and written details of the pension policy, even after a notification saying that the state had reverted to the OPS was issued in November. A major challenge that the state government faces is the refusal of the Centre to return Rs 17,000 crore, which is the accumulated share of Punjab’s contribution to PFRDA under the NPS.