No plan to restore old pension scheme, refund deposits: Centre

New Delhi, December 12

The government on Monday said it was not considering the restoration of the old pension scheme (OPS), nor was there any provision under the existing laws to return the money deposited under the National Pension Scheme fund to state governments.

Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad, in a reply to AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s query, said the governments of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand had informed the Centre and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) about their decision to restart the OPS for their employees.

On Punjab, the MoS said, “The Punjab Government issued a notification on November 18 regarding the implementation of the OPS. The Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand governments have sent proposals to the Centre/PFRDA to return the accumulated corpus of subscribers under the NPS to the respective state governments. No such proposal has been received from the Punjab Government.” The minister said, “There is no proposal under consideration of the Government of India for the restoration of the OPS.”

He said the PFRDA had told the Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand governments that there was no provision to return the money either.

“There is no provision under the PFRDA Act, 2013, read with the PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals under the National Pension System) Regulations, 2015, and other relevant regulations, as amended from time to time, vide which the funds, which are already deposited both in the form of government contribution and employees’ contribution towards the NPS, along with accruals, can be refunded and deposited back to the state governments,” the minister clarified with the Congress hoping to make the OPS restoration a poll issue across states.

Without access to the NPS funds of employees, the states will, however, find it hard to keep their poll promise.