Eligible Panjab University employees to be offered another chance to opt for Old Pension Scheme

All Panjab University employees who had joined before 2004 were given the option to continue with the OPS even when the New Pension Scheme was announced

Panjab University employees who had joined the varsity before 2006 will be offered another chance to opt for the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) when the board of finance (BOF) meets on June 12. The move will have the varsity incur a net liability of ₹492 crore.

The Old Pension Scheme gives retired employees guaranteed monthly pension. Under NPS, deductions are made in the employees salary to pay the pension. (HT Photo)

All PU employees who had joined before 2004 were given the option to continue with the OPS even when the New Pension Scheme was announced. Punjab had further given its employees aged below 35 till 2006 an option to go with OPS and a proposal to adopt Punjab’s policy is also on the BoF agenda. Employees aged above 35 were automatically covered under the scheme.

A section of eligible employees, however, had at that time had not opted for OPS but are now keen on it. The OPS gives retired employees guaranteed monthly pension. Under NPS, deductions are made in the employees salary to pay the pension.

The matter was taken up in the syndicate, and following legal opinions, the vice-chancellor (V-C) formed a committee to look into the financial implication of the decision.

According to the committee, there are 711 total employees who qualify for the provision and joined before 2004. Of these, 420 have retired and 291 are still in service. The net liability for them would be ₹384 crore. Between 2004 and 2006, another 202 employees fall in the eligible bracket. Seven of them have retired. The adjusted net liability stands at ₹108 crore.

As per the minutes of the meeting of the committee held on April 13 last year, the syndicate has the power for providing the availability of such options. There is no embargo for giving the employees an additional opportunity now and no concurrence of any authority or ministry is required.

The services of a private consultancy firm were also sought to calculate the added costs after syndicate in a September 2022 meeting resolved that the financial liability of the move should be examined.

While PU finance and development officer Vikram Nayyar was unavailable for comment, an official on the condition of anonymity said they will deliberate on how the varsity plans to generate funds for this proposal if it is approved.