Old Pension Scheme: Plea In Bombay High Court Seeks Withdrawal Of Maharashtra Govt Employees' Strike, Hearing On Friday

The matter was mentioned before the bench of Acting Chief Justice SV Gangapurwala and Sandeep Marne by Advocate Gunratan Sadavarte in a 2014 PIL. The bench has agreed to hear the matter tomorrow.

The application seeks directions for immediate withdrawal of the strike and action against the striking government employees. Sadavarte has also sought a list of striking unions and employees and also a list of those affected by the strike, including patients.

Under the OPS, a government employee gets a monthly pension equivalent to 50 per cent his/her last drawn salary. There was no need for contribution by employees.

Lakhs of employees of the Maharashtra government went on an indefinite strike from March 14 seeking restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), affecting services. The OPS was scrapped on October 31, 2005, when late Vilasrao Deshmukh of Congress was the Chief Minister and Jayant Patil, present state NCP chief. was the Finance Minister, the plea states.

It adds that the strike is illegal and against the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act, 2023 (MESMA).

Sadavarte contends the plea is not against the employees’ rights but so that people and students don’t suffer. The employees went on strike a day after CM Eknath Shinde announced constitution of a committee to look into the employees’ demands.

The plea points out that the Maharashtra Nurses Association has claimed that its members from 34 branches across 30 districts participated in the strike on day one. Employees went on strike in Nagpur and Latur. Apart from OPS, the employees are demanding regularization of services of contractual employees, filling up of vacant posts and benefits of in-service advancement scheme to teaching and non-teaching staff.

The plea states that under the NPS, a state government employee contributes 10 per cent of his/her basic salary plus dearness allowance with the state making a matching contribution. The money is then invested in one of the several pension funds approved by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) and returns are market-linked.

“In the wake of an indefinite strike called by Maharashtra government employees, the state Legislative Assembly on Tuesday passed the Maharashtra Essential Services Maintenance Act, 2023 (MESMA),” the plea adds.

Sadavarte has claimed that in the Pune district, 68,000 employees, across departments, were on strike. Across the Kolhapur district, 80,000 employees joined the strike. In Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, 17,000 workers joined the agitation.

“Orders may kindly be passed including to withdraw the strike forthwith in the interest of justice to avoid the casualties and deaths in near future,” the plea prays.