‘Mistake’ realised, AAI staff still wait for pension

The pension of employees having less than 10 years of service at the time of transfer was never under question — until August 14, 1995, when the AAI issued an allegedly illegal office memorandum

NEW DELHI: Homemaker Sushma Parti’s world crashed when her husband Anup Parti died in 2003 before his retirement from service in the Airports Authority of India (AAI). Aware she would have to push on with the life, Sushma rested her hopes on the pension the senior fire superintendent was entitled to.

Fourteen years on, the 60-year-old widow is still waiting for that pension money to arrive.

“I have no other source of income,” said Sushma, living in New Delhi’s Janakpuri. “I am fortunate my children have been looking after me all these years.”

Sushma’s husband was among 700 civil aviation employees deprived of their retirement benefits because of various reasons, including wrong interpretation of labour laws. There are 1,600 more people working in this government sector, unsure for the past 31 years if they will ever get a pension when they retire.

The civil aviation ministry decided in October 2016 to honour its staff’s pension entitlement. But it is yet to resolve the “financial impact” and “modalities of disbursal”.

Employees say the government is deliberately delaying the process since it cannot guarantee the retirement benefits despite deducting their share of the pension from the salary.

The ministry’s official spokesperson was not available for comments on Tuesday as she was travelling. But a source said: “We are trying to resolve the issue in the interest of the employees as soon as possible.”

“It is taking time to fix the modalities because there are different categories of (current) employees and retired staff such as (those based on) ranks and pay scale,” the source added.

These employees had joined the National Airport Authority, the AAI’s predecessor, in 1986 on deputation from the civil aviation department and the director general of civil aviation (DGCA). In 1989, they became permanent employees of the NAA, and were absorbed in the new entity when NAA became AAI in 1995.

Their transfer was governed by a memorandum dated July 5, 1989, from the department of pension and pensioners’ welfare — a constitutional agency under the Prime Minister.

“The pension of employees having less than 10 years of service at the time of transfer was never under question until August 14, 1995, when the AAI issued an allegedly illegal office memorandum,” said S Bhattacharya, former executive director, air navigation services.

This memorandum contradicted the terms and conditions under which the employees were absorbed as permanent staff in 1989, said the retired man fighting for his pension.

The employees filed petitions in courts, approached the National Human Rights Commission, gave representations to the ministry and wrote letters to the Prime Minister.

The pensioners’ welfare department settled the case in their favour on August 30, 2010. “Employees transferred en masse to airports authority … are eligible for pension under government rules” after retirement from the AAI, it said.

But the civil aviation ministry has been delaying obeying the order. RN Choubey, secretary in the ministry, wrote in July to his counterpart in pensioner’s welfare department, asking for more time for deliberations.

“Imagine the extent of neglect that even after realising the mistake, the ministry is not showing any urgency. It still wants to deliberate. That’s a pity,” said SK Mansukhani, another man waiting for his pension.