Government service will also be considered: Double pension for PSC members

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Government issued order will create the opportunity to increase the pension of PSC members again. With this, in addition to the increased pension based on the increased salary, the pension will increase again by considering the period of service in the government service.

According to the previous law, if government employees become members of the PSC, they can choose only one, either the PSC pension or the pension available to government employees. From now on, if government employees become members of the PSC, their government service period will also be considered for pension. The order is to grant pension in this way to all those who request it. The decision was made in the last cabinet meeting. The government will face a heavy financial burden due to this.

Earlier, those who had worked as government employees for a longer period in a higher post would get a higher pension than those who were members of the PSC. Therefore, many people, even after becoming members of the PSC, opted for a service pension instead of a PSC pension. Whereas now the salary of the PSC chairman has been increased to Rs 3.87 lakh and the salary of a member to Rs 3.80 lakh. The chairman's pension was fixed at Rs 2.5 lakh and that of the members at Rs 2.25 lakh. With this, a higher pension will be available as a PSC member than if they were in government service. With the new order, a person who becomes a PSC member after becoming a government employee will get an even higher pension.

The government order followed the High Court verdict based on a petition filed by former PSC members P Jamila, Dr Greeshma Mathew and Dr K Usha. The complainants were initially given the option of a pension in government service. However, they requested the government to provide them with a PSC pension as they could get a higher pension in PSC. The government informed that this was not possible under the current laws and that a higher pension could not be provided. Following this, they approached the High Court. The court gave a favourable verdict. However, instead of changing from the government pension, the order went a step further and asked to provide a pension by calculating the period of government service.