An Appeal To United Forum of Bank Unions

Dear Samir Ghosh
I am writing this mail to you and this is also intended for the other signatories of the United Forum Circular dated 22nd February, 2019.

The United Forum did indeed show restraint when in August 2018 the DG of the Bank made an appeal to the United Forum to call off the then proposed Mass Casual Leave in September 2018, merely because the Government then reportedly wanted the Bank to send to them "urgently" concrete proposals {on pension related issues} for their consideration. Then the DG had set a time limit of December 2018. However, the United Forum in their unwarranted benevolence gave time till second week of January 2019!

The Bank's "concrete" proposals ( as if the many earlier proposals of the Bank to Government were not concrete!) were reportedly sent ere long. There were reports that some officials of the Bank from HRD were also sent to the Ministry to give clarifications in the matter. Days, weeks and months passed by. Nothing ever concrete was visible even on the distant horizon.

The United Forum apparently never bothered to ask either the Governor or the Deputy Governor as to what happened to their own set time limit. Instead, the United Forum once again placed undue reliance on them without caring to look back or caring to learn and understand from the bitter  past experiences - as to how the solemn assurances handed out by successive Governors of the Bank were fulfilled only by their brazen breaches time and again.

Strangely, the United Forum waited for the two Central Board Meetings of the Bank for seeing if the burning issue is discussed in them. What is the basis of such expectation? Did ever either the Governor or the Deputy Governor even throw a distant hint to the United Forum that this issue would come up before the Central Board? In this purely administrative matter, in which the Governor (who means the Bank under the RBI Act) is empowered to take his decision, or at best this matter could have come up only before the Committee of the Central Board,  how and on what basis did the United Forum expect that this long pending and agonizing issue would come up before the Central Board at all? It is disgusting to say the least.

Now comes another jolt. The United Forum circular of 22nd February, 2019. In a matter in which it was the Deputy Governor who had requested the United Forum to call off the then proposed Mass Casuals Leave, and therefore appropriately the United Forum ought to have sought a meeting with the same Deputy Governor or the Governor for further discussing the matter and not with the CGM in charge of the HRMD. What can this CGM tell you except what he has said? Is he independently capable of taking up the matter with the Ministry of Finance without taking approval from the DG or the Governor? His advice again to "show restraint" is a routine exercise without any sense of purpose or meaning. We expected the United Forum to show some nerve and spine to demand a discussion with the Governor or the DG and do some plainspeaking to them without any reservation. We are indeed severely disappointed at this attitude of the United Forum once again.

I am sorry to say this. But you should understand that this is the intense feeling of every one of the 28000 odd  pensioners of the Bank today. The United Forum has not pursued the matter with the diligence and determination with successive Governors of the Bank. The United Forum has not pursued the matters like the
(i) grant of enhanced pension to super senior pensioners of the Bank on the same lines as extended to the super senior pensioners of the Government. What prevents the Bank to introduce this benefit even on the basis of the existing pension? Did the United Forum ever take up this issue with the Governor?

(ii) the United Forum or any of its units has not cared to take up with the Bank the utter inadmissibility of the Bank's decision to extend the benefit of  amendment to Regulation 28 of the RBI Pension Regulations, in terms of which the benefit of the amendment (i.e. computation of pension on the basis of last pay drawn or average of ten months pay which ever is higher) is unjustly extended by the Bank only from 6th October 2018, whereas in terms of the Ruling of the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India such benefit should be extended to ALL pensioners irrespective of the date of their retirement. Is the RBI authorised to overrule the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India?

It is appalling that the United Forum which professes to fight for the cause of the welfare of the employees and pensioners has shown such massive inaction on such  vital matters concerning the employees and pensioners. Please do not forget that today's in service employees are tomorrow's pensioners  and the United Forum and its various units are letting down the interests of not only the pensioners but also the present in-service employees.

I am greatly pained to write this frank and outspoken mail to you. I only hope that you will have  the time and the goodness to dispassionately think over what I have written and the courage to accept the harsh truth and take corrective action before long. Otherwise, we shall all be deluding ourselves.

With regards

Yours sincerely
C V Subbaraman
(a member and super senior pensioner who has had a long innings
as an active member of the Employees and Officers Associations).