Old Pension Scheme: New update from the central government regarding Old Pension Scheme (OPS)

Old Pension Scheme: Central and state government employees have been demanding the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme for a long time. Some state governments have accepted the demands of the employees and restored the old pension.

Now a new update has come from the central government regarding the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). It was claimed in many media reports that the time limit for switching from New Pension Scheme to Old Pension would be extended.

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The central government clarified that there is no proposal to extend the time limit for employees to switch to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). The central government started NPS for employees in 2003. Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh had said in response to a written answer in the Lok Sabha a few days ago that NPS is mandatory for all new recruitments in central government jobs (except armed forces) from January 1, 2004.

The option to switch to the old pension scheme was given.

He said that after the court order, the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare issued an order on March 3, 2023. In this order, the civil employees of the Central Government were given a one-time opportunity to join under the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 (now 2021). In this, the option to switch to the old pension scheme was given to such employees who were recruited before the notification of NPS was issued on December 22, 2003.

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No proposal to issue any kind of instruction

Singh said that according to the existing process, the appointing authority of the post in the ministry for which such an option has been chosen has to examine the applicability of these instructions and take a decision. He said, ‘A fixed time limit has been fixed for every activity to examine and decide on the option chosen by the employee.’ The employees had time till August 31, 2023 to select their option. After this, the last date for examining the option and deciding on it by the concerned appointing authority was November 30, 2023. The minister said that there is no proposal to issue any kind of instruction regarding the order issued on March 3, 2023.

Manjit Singh Patel, national president of All India NPS Employees Federation, requested the government to extend the date to benefit eligible employees. Patel said, ‘Many NPS employees are still deprived of this benefit and are demanding an extension of the deadline. We are requesting the Government of India to extend the date to benefit the rest of the eligible employees.’

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