PANAJI
Nearly 1,000 staff members, recruited as trainees through the pre-employment scheme (PETS), have been denied the option to switch to the old pension scheme (OPS).
When PETS began in 2001, about 1,500 trainees were hired in six categories — drivers, assistant linemen/wiremen, stenotypists, primary school teachers, assistant teachers, and lower division clerks — all for training purposes.
After the State government decided to allow employees to leave the National Pension Scheme (NPS) and switch to the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, the PETS recruits asked the government to let them choose between the two pension schemes.
Sources have said that the Finance Department has now rejected their request, and directions have been given to all departments. According to a note from the Finance Department, the option to switch from NPS to OPS “does not apply” to PET recruits.
One PET employee, speaking anonymously, explained that the government considers them only as trainees, not as temporary or officiating staff. They also pointed out that the Central Civil Services Pension Rules do not include provisions for trainee employees, so the benefits cannot be extended to them.
The employee added that some PET recruits have passed away, while many others have retired. “When the government is providing benefits to all its employees, we should have been considered too. We had high hopes,” the employee said.
In 2022, the State government followed the Centre’s Office Memorandum, which gave government employees working in posts declared vacant before August 2005, but recruited much later, a one-time opportunity to choose whether to leave the NPS. NPS replaced the Central Civil Services (Pension) 1972 from August 2005.
Last month, the government instructed all departments to resolve these cases within a set timeframe.
