By K.D. Sebastian, CHQ President, Sanchar Nigam Pensioners Welfare Association (SNPWA)
The recently issued Terms of Reference (ToR) of the VIII Central Pay Commission (CPC) have come as a rude shock to millions of Central Government pensioners. By describing them as “unfunded, non-contributory pensioners”, the Government has effectively stigmatized a generation of retired public servants as a financial burden and a drain on the exchequer — an attitude that is not only ungrateful but deeply unbecoming of a welfare State.
This terminology, used in the ToR, is not a matter of semantics — it reflects a fundamental shift in governmental perception. Pensioners are being portrayed as a hostile crowd feeding upon taxpayers’ money, rather than as rightful beneficiaries of a system they built, served, and sustained with dedication and sacrifice.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Government of India currently holds a corpus exceeding ₹10 lakh crore, accumulated precisely for meeting pension obligations. This massive reserve, built over decades, stands as a testimony that the pension system is not unfunded, nor does it operate at the mercy of taxpayers.
There are now apprehensions — and not without reason — that there may be a tacit plan to divert or reallocate this enormous pension corpus for other fiscal purposes, while systematically weakening the moral and legal foundation of the pension framework.
Such a move, if true, would be a grave breach of fiduciary responsibility, and an affront to the generations of employees who devoted their prime years to national service on the solemn assurance of post-retirement security.
The Finance Bill, 2025, which has been retrospectively backdated to 01.06.1972, compounds these fears. The timing and retrospective scope strongly suggest an attempt to undermine judicially protected pension rights and deny future pension revisions, effectively freezing pensions under the guise of fiscal rationalization.
This stands in stark violation of the principles laid down by the Supreme Court of India in the landmark case of D.S. Nakara & Others vs Union of India (1983 AIR 130), which categorically declared:
“Pension is not a bounty payable at the will of the Government, but a right earned for past services rendered.”
“With the change in pay structure, revision of pension must also follow; otherwise the class of pensioners would become unequals among equals.”
The Nakara judgment remains a constitutional compass that binds the Government to ensure periodic pension revision and maintain parity between serving and retired personnel. Any deviation from this, under the guise of fiscal prudence or technical classification, would constitute a violation of Article 14 of the Constitution — equality before law.
By vilifying pensioners and branding them as a liability, the Government is repudiating its own moral and legal obligations. Pension is deferred salary, a continuing right, and a social assurance guaranteed by the State — not a charitable dole.
To deny revision or attempt reallocation of the pension corpus would amount to breach of trust of monumental proportions — an act that would not only cause immeasurable hardship to senior citizens but also destroy the faith of serving employees in the very institution they serve.
It is therefore incumbent on the Government of India to:
- Withdraw the objectionable and misleading terminology from the VIII CPC Terms of Reference.
- Affirm, in explicit terms, the inclusion of pensioners in all CPC deliberations regarding pay and pension revision.
- Safeguard and ring-fence the ₹10 lakh crore pension corpus, ensuring that it is used exclusively for the purpose for which it was created.
- Rescind the provisions of the Finance Bill, 2025, which intend to negate or dilute the pensioners’ right to revision.
The pensioners of India are not a burden. They are the builders of the Republic, who carried the administrative, scientific, and defence machinery of India through decades of challenge and change. To treat them now as expendable or parasitic is not just policy betrayal — it is a moral failure of the State.
Let it be known that we stand united — not only in anger, but also in defense of fairness, dignity, and justice for every pensioner who has served this nation with unwavering loyalty.
K.D. Sebastian
CHQ President,
Sanchar Nigam Pensioners Welfare Association (SNPWA)