Big news for Central Govt Doctors: Justice finally prevails, after SC decision, Govt issues orders that NPA is to be added into pension w.e.f 01 Jan 1996 for pre-96 retirees

In the long and tortuous journey for doctors working under the Central Govt, the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) has today finally implemented the decision of the Supreme Court which had held in November 2013 that the Govt was wrong in its interpretation of addition of Non-Practicing Allowance (NPA) into total pensionary benefits.

It may be recalled that earlier the Supreme Court had ruled against the claims of the doctors in BJ Akkara’s case but later when the Apex Court was informed about the correct position on the subject and that the Govt had chosen to hide the actual facts from the Supreme Court as also the very important point that even the Prime Minister had approved a policy favouring addition of NPA into the pension of pre-96 retiree doctors, the Court finally ruled in favour of doctors and recorded in its order the unethical stand of the Govt in this regard before the Supreme Court in BJ Akkara’s case.

The subject in detail can be understood by perusing an old post on this blog dated 30 Nov 2013.

The Govt had filed a review petition before the Supreme Court which was dismissed in July 2014. Taking a progressive and balanced view of the matter, the DoPPW has finally issued orders implementing the decision of the Supreme Court across the board universally and not just for the petitioners in the case before the Supreme Court as is usually done by the Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare in cases of military pensioners.

With this, the Govt would have to release the correct deserved pension to all Central Govt doctors w.e.f 01-01-1996 with all consequential benefits by including the element of NPA into the revised scales for calculating pension.

The letter issued today can be downloaded by clicking here.

Another post of 08 January 2014 that is linked to the issue can be accessed here.