T.N. Pension Committee to convene meetings with service associations

The Pension Committee, led by senior IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi, has called for four rounds of talks with associations of government servants and teachers on August 18 and 25 and September 1 and 8.

In February, the Tamil Nadu government constituted a committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Bedi to examine in detail the three pension schemes — Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), Old Pension Scheme (OPS), and Unified Pension Scheme (UPS).

It was tasked with making recommendations on the “most suitable and feasible pension structure to address the demands of employees, while maintaining the fiscal sustainability of the State.”

The CPS was introduced for Tamil Nadu government employees, who joined service on April 1, 2003. The National Pension System was introduced for employees of the Union government from January 1, 2004. However, the CPS was followed for the State government employees.

Resuming old scheme

There have been representations from the State government employees to resume the OPS, which was followed before April 1, 2003. In this situation, the Union government introduced the UPS on January 24 this year.

In April, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin announced in the Assembly that the committee would be advised to submit its report by September 30 this year.