Archives for February 2023

Prayagraj (UP): Uttar Pradesh police on Monday gunned down one of the accused in the sensational February 24 killing of a prime witness in the 2005 murder case of then BSP MLA Raju Pal in an encounter here.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Navendu Kumar told PTI that Arbaaz, who was the driver of the white SUV used by the assailants to attack witness Umesh Pal, was surrounded by police teams following an intelligence input.

He opened fire on the police and was injured in the ensuing encounter in Nehru Park under Dhoomanganj police station at around 3 pm, Kumar said.

He was taken to hospital where doctors declared him dead, the officer said.

“Arbaaz was accompanied by two or three other people who managed to escape from the spot. We are trying to track them,” the officer added.

Umesh Pal and his police security guard Sandeep Nishad were shot dead on Friday outside his home in Dhoomanganj area of Prayagraj. Another security personnel Raghvendra Singh, who was injured in the attack, was admitted to SRN Hospital in critical condition and was referred to Lucknow on Sunday.

On the basis of a complaint lodged by Umesh Pal’s wife Jaya Pal, a case was registered at Dhoomanganj police station (in Prayagraj) against gangster-turned politiciam Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, wife Shaista Parveen, two sons, aides Guddu Muslim and Gulam and nine others.

They have been booked under sections 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Explosive Substances Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Act, police said.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had vowed to destroy the mafias after the opposition Samajwadi Party had questioned the law and order situation in the state in the wake of the killing.

New Delhi: The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Monday set May 3 as the deadline for subscribers to opt for a higher pension.

The Supreme Court on November 4 allowed another change for employees who were existing EPS members as on September 1, 2024, to contribute up to 8.33 per cent of their actual salaries – as against 8.33 per cent of pensionable salary capped at Rs 15,000 a month – towards pension.

The apex court gave a four-month window to enable opting for higher pensions. The deadline accordingly should have been around March 3, 2023, but EPFO only last week came out with the procedure for opting for higher pension under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS).

“The joint option for employees who were in service prior to September 1, 2014, and continued to be in service on or after September 1, 2014, but could not exercise joint option under the Employees’ Pension Scheme can do so now on or before May 3, 2023,” the EPFO said on its website.

At present, both employees and employers contribute 12 per cent of the employee’s basic salary, dearness allowance and retaining allowance, if any, to the employee provident fund or EPF.

The employee’s entire contribution goes to EPF, while the 12 per cent contribution by the employer is split as 3.67 per cent to EPF and 8.33 per cent to EPS.

The Government of India contributes 1.16 per cent to an employee’s pension, while employees do not contribute to the pension scheme.

EPFO said, “online facility for filing joint option is coming soon”.

Earlier, there were apprehensions that March 3, 2023, is the last date for opting for a higher pension.

Last week, EPFO came out with a procedure to enable subscribers and their employers to jointly apply for a higher pension under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS).

In November 2022, the Supreme Court upheld the Employees’ Pension (Amendment) Scheme 2014. The EPS amendment of August 22, 2014, had raised the pensionable salary cap to Rs 15,000 a month from Rs 6,500 a month and allowed members along with their employers to contribute 8.33 per cent of their actual salaries (if it exceeded the cap) towards EPS.

In an office order, the EPFO had provided for dealing with the ”Joint Option Form” by field offices of the body. EPFO stated that “a facility will be provided for which URL (unique resource location) will be informed shortly. Once received, the regional PF commissioner shall put an adequate notice on the notice board and banners for wider public information”.

It provided that each application will be registered, digitally logged and the receipt number will be provided to the applicant. It further stated that the office in-charge of the regional provident fund office concerned shall examine each case of joint option on higher salary and intimate the decision to the applicant through e-mail/post and later through SMS also.

It also provided that any grievance by the applicant can be registered on EPFiGMS (grievance portal) after submission of his/her joint option form and payment of due contributions, if any.

The order stated that these directions are being issued in compliance with the order of Supreme Court on November 4, 2022. EPFO has asked its field offices to provide an option for higher pension to eligible subscribers in accordance with the Supreme Court order.

According to the EPFO circular on December 29, 2022, the central government has directed to implement the directions in the order. The apex court had given all EPS members, as on September 1, 2014, six months to opt for the amended scheme.

The apex court in its order gave four more months to eligible subscribers to opt for higher pension under EPS-95.

The court had also struck down the requirement in the 2014 amendments mandating employee contribution of 1.16 per cent of the salary exceeding Rs 15,000 per month. This will facilitate the subscribers to contribute higher to the scheme and get enhanced benefits accordingly.

The EPFO circular had also provided for the higher pension option for those eligible subscribers who either contributed on actual wages higher than Rs 5,000 or Rs 6,500 per month prevalent threshold pensionable salary or exercised their option for higher pension or their request for higher pension was declined by EPFO authorities before the amendment to EPS-95 in 2014.

New Delhi: An 18-year-old man was arrested in east Delhi for allegedly snatching mobile phones to purchase expensive gifts for his girlfriend, police said on Monday.

The accused has been identified as Kaif, a resident of Sunder Nagari in Delhi.

According to police, on Thursday, he along with his friend snatched one Vaibhav Jha’s phone while he was on a call and fled away. They were riding on a scooter.

On Friday, police laid a trap after receiving a tip-off that Kaif would come near Sunder Nagari to sell the snatched mobile phone. They apprehended him as soon as he was spotted, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Shahdara) Rohit Meena said.

Kaif disclosed that his girlfriend is fond of expensive gifts which is why he used to snatch phones from pedestrians in the Shahdara and northeast Delhi area to sell them to an unknown person at a good rate, police said.

Two mobile phones and one scooter were recovered from his possession, police added.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday pulled up the Ministry of Defence over the delay in payment of arrears of One Rank-One Pension (OROP) to eligible pensioners of the armed forces and sought an explanation from the secretary concerned for issuing a communication extending the timeline for payments fixed by the court.

On January 9, the top court granted time till March 15 to the Centre for payment of total arrears of OROP. But on January 20, the ministry issued a communication that the arrears shall be paid in four yearly installments which has been challenged by a group of ex-servicemen.

Observing that the sanctity of the judicial process has to be maintained, a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud asked the Ministry to “set its house in order” and directed the secretary to file a personal affidavit explaining his position.

“We gave you an extension till March 15 for payment of arrears. Now in the face of our orders of January 9, how can you issue a communication that you will pay the amount in four equal installments? Why shouldn’t we proceed against your secretary? In the face of our order, how can you pass an order by an administrative circular extending time…

“You tell your secretary that we are going to take action against him for issuing that communication. The sanctity of the judicial process has to be maintained. Either the secretary withdraws it, or we are going to issue a contempt notice to the Ministry of Defense and that will be very serious,” the bench also comprising justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said.

The top court said the ministry had no business to take the law into its hands and issue unilateral communication to extend the time for payment.

“We have fixed March 15 and you had no business to say that the money will be paid in installments. Here you are not fighting a war. Here you are fighting against the rule of law. Set your house in order. This is not the way the ministry of defence to go about it,” the bench observed.

At the outset, Additional Solicitor General N Venkataraman told the court that the ministry should be given time to carry out the exercise as per the court’s order.

“We have already started to comply with the order. This can be heard in the second or third week of April when we will be able to file better compliance,” the ASG said.

Venkataraman submitted that out of 22 lakh pensioners, the government has already given money to eight lakh pensioners amounting to Rs 2,500 crores.

“By March 31, we plan to make a one-time payment to family pensioners. We are not trying to withhold it. We just want to make the payment in a staggered manner,” he said.

The apex court was hearing an application filed by the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) seeking payments of arrears in one installment instead of four installments.

Senior advocate Huzefa Ahmadi, appearing for the army personnel, asked how could the government unilaterally modify the deadline set by the court.

“When this court passed an order how can the department reserve the right to modify it? Four lakh pensioners have passed away in the interregnum and they cannot claim the pension. They will never get the benefit,” he said.

The bench then directed the secretary to file a personal affidavit on the issue.

“We direct the secretary concerned in Defence Ministry to file a personal affidavit explaining circumstances in which such unilateral decision to extend the time for payment was made inspite of clear direction of this court,” the top court said in its order.

The bench also warned the ASG that interest at the rate of 9 percent will be imposed if arrears are not cleared by March 15.

The apex court posted the matter after the Holi vacation.

The top court had earlier asked the Centre to ensure that all arrears are paid expeditiously to the pensioners of the armed forces and that there is no further delay.

The government had moved the top court in December 2022, seeking an extension of time till March 15, 2023 for the payment of arrears of OROP scheme to all eligible pensioners of the armed forces.

This was the second extension given by the top court to the Union government to pay the arrears after it had first moved the top court in June, last year and sought three months to compute and make payments in accordance with the March 16, 2022 verdict of the top court.

The top court’s 2022 verdict came on the plea filed by the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement (IESM) through advocate Balaji Srinivasan against the Centre’s formula.

It had said in terms of the communication dated November 7, 2015, the benefit of OROP was to be effected from July 1, 2014 and the communication states that “in future, the pension would be re-fixed every five years”.

“Such an exercise has remained to be carried out after the expiry of five years possibly because of the pendency of the present proceedings,” the bench had said, adding, “We accordingly order and direct that in terms of the communication dated November 7, 2015, a re-fixation exercise shall be carried out from July 1, 2019, upon the expiry of five years.

“Arrears payable to all eligible pensioners of the armed forces shall be computed and paid over accordingly within a period of three months,” it had said.

Bhubaneswar: Surveys have indicated gold reserves in Odisha, Mines Minister Prafulla Kumar Mallick said in the assembly on Monday.

The surveys, conducted by the Geological Survey of India and the state Directorate of Mines and Geology, have indicated gold reserves in at least three districts — Deogarh, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj, he said, replying to BJD MLA Sudhir Sama.

The areas where these gold deposits are likely to be present are Dimirimunda, Kushakala, Gotipur and Gopur in Keonjhar district, Joshipur, Suriaguda, Ruansila and Dhushura hill in Mayurbhanj district, and Adas in Deogarh district, he said.

The first surveys in these areas were conducted by the Directorate of Mines and Geology and the GSI in the 1970s and ’80s, but the findings were not made public. A survey was again conducted over the last two years by the GSI, the minister said.