Pension Scheme: The Department of Personnel and Training of the Central Government has written a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories on 13 July.
The central government is considering giving the benefit of the old pension scheme to some senior officers. The Central Government has decided to give one time option to IAS, IPS and IFoS officers to avail the old pension scheme. However, the condition is that his appointment should be before the cut-off date of December 22, 2003 for notification of the National Pension System (NPS).
The Central Government has taken this step on the basis of the decision of various courts. The Center said it has received representations from officers of All India Services (AIS), Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS) in this regard.
The Promotion and Training Department of the Central Government had written a letter to the Chief Secretaries of all the States and Union Territories on 13 July. The letter states that AIS officers covered under NPS on joining service on or after January 1, 2004 may be given an option to be covered under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) under 1958. It includes officers of AIS selected through Civil Services Examination 2003, Civil Services Examination 2004 and Indian Forest Service 2003.
Employees will have only one chance to join the old pension scheme. Those officers who do not apply for old pension benefits till 30 November 2023 will continue to get the benefit of NPS as before.