Hyderabad:The Central Administrative Tribunal bench at Hyderabad refused to grant interim protection to Central government employees in regard to directing the Union government to stop recovering commutation amounts from their pension every month. Central government employees can commute up to 40 per cent of their pension and get a lump sum payment at the time of their retirement.
The CAT reasoned that the commutation was voluntary and optional and there is no compulsion that they should avail it at the time of retirement. Moreover, the CAT Bench observed that the petitioners filing the application were all-India Service officers and knew the rule position and had opted for commutation of pension.
The bench comprising judicial member Dr Lata Baswaraj Patne and administrative member Shalini Misra was dealing with a petition filed by group of retired chief and principal chief conservators of forest department along with other retired senior bureaucrats challenging the recovering commutation amount from their pensions every month.
