A day after the Tamil Nadu government cited the case of Rajasthan to argue against a demand seeking to revoke the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), the CPS Abolition Movement on Sunday contended it would not apply to Tamil Nadu as the State had not signed an agreement with the Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA), unlike Rajasthan.
On Saturday, Minister for Finance and Human Resources Management Palanivel Thiaga Rajan cited the case of Rajasthan to explain issues involved in the restoration of the old pension scheme, where he said the PFRDA was reported to have rejected the Rajasthan government’s request to withdraw funds, accrued under the National Pension Scheme (NPS), for the implementation of the old pension scheme. “The Rajasthan case, with regards to PFRDA, would not apply to Tamil Nadu because Tamil Nadu is yet to sign an agreement with the PFRDA. Compared to Rajasthan, we are in a better position to go back to old pension scheme, since we have not signed it,” said P. Frederic Engels, State coordinator of the CPS Abolition Movement.
He also rejected arguments that the State government and employees contributed 10% each under the CPS and the contributions were getting credited to the individual accounts of the beneficiaries, and that the law did not permit them to be transferred to the government. “This argument too does not apply to us and applies only for NPS subscribers. The policy note of Finance Department (Pension and Other Retirement Benefits) for 2022-23 mentions in Page 5 (English version) the sum accumulated, including employee/employer contribution plus interest that is kept in public account,” Mr. Engels pointed out.
To the government’s argument on pensions adding to the burden of the State exchequer, which could otherwise be used for the welfare scheme, he said Rajasthan government had clarified that it was not intending to take from development expenditure.
“In a front-page advertisement published in The Hindu on April 26, the Department of Information and Public Relations of Government of Rajasthan clearly mentions ‘Implementation of old pension scheme will not result in deduction of even a single rupee from development expenditure of the State and welfare of its people’. Tamil Nadu too can find a way,” he said.
