The proposed pension plan for new government employees may spill beyond October 1 deadline as the Centre is still to work out the finances required for its implementation.
Official sources said while there had been a round of discussion among the ministries of railways, defence, telecom and finance and the departments of posts and personnel and training, the issue of the level of financing required was yet to be sorted out.
While the department of personnel and training has shortlisted a panel of actuaries to work out the level of the budget support required from the Centre, initial estimates suggest that a sum of about Rs 150 crore will be needed in the current fiscal itself.
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The sources said this was because of the peculiar nature of the defence services pensions where because of the short tenure of army officials, the pension liability was higher in comparison to the contributions made by the them during their service period.
Finance minister Yashwant Sinha had identified a revised pension plan for the new government recruits as a priority for the Centre in his last two budgets. As per the original proposal, the plan should have been ready by October 1, 2001. But, the deadline has been repeatedly postponed. In the budget for the current fiscal, Sinha had set the deadline as June 1. But officials said even the next date of October might be exceeded as the government had just begun the necessary spadework.
Officials in the department of personnel and training said they would ask the finance ministry to spell out the financial support required to make the switchover.