When Lungten Gaytshe retires in December this year, after 27 years of service, he will have to wait another six years to get his regular monthly pension.
This is because the date of birth on his identity card and what has been entered in his service book record, when he began working, does not tally.
His service record has September 1, 1961 as his date of birth; whereas his new identity card, issued two years ago, has it as January 1, 1955.
Lungten believes the date on his ID card is more genuine, because it was crosschecked with the gup and records in the village. His office has also accepted it; which means Lungten superannuates in December this year at the ripe age of 56. But the national pension and provident fund office is sticking to the service record, despite several letters from Lungten and his office to make amends.
“The civil services rules and regulations state that the initial date of birth recorded in the service book at the time of appointment is the binding date when working out retirement,” said pension head, Sonam Yeshey. “And the pension office doesn’t have the authority to make changes to the service record.”
Sonam Yeshey also said that the ID card was more a proof of nationality than the correct date of birth, which many people, particularly from rural backgrounds, have no record of.
“If you look at the new ID cards, many IDs have January 1 as their date of birth. because no one knows on which day they were born,” he said.
The pension head said that, if people wanted to change their service books records to tally with the ID, that would have to have the approval of the board, in case of corporations, and the commission, in case of civil servants.
The other option is that the parent office could extend the years of service for someone like Lungten so that he retires five years later at 56 years, according to the service book record.
Lungten also has the option of waiting for one year, when he becomes 51, and then takes the early pension scheme, which is slightly less than normal pension after 56.
Of the 18 people, who retired this year between June and September, two who had reached 51 years, according to the service records, had to take the early retirement scheme because of the birth date discrepancy between the ID card and the service records. The difference between the two records varies between few months to six to seven years.
“We receive at least two to three calls a day from people nearing retirement, enquiring whether the details in the service record can be tallied with the new ID card,” said Sonam Yeshey. “We tell them there’s nothing we can do. We have to go by the civil service rules and regulations.”
Sonam Yeshey also said that the discrepancy in the dates also went the other way, where people are way older in the ID card record, but still under 56 in the service book record. For example, five of the retirees this year were at least several years older, according to the ID card.
It was only in 2000, when the pension scheme started, that the service records of all civil and corporate employees under the pension scheme was collected by the pension office. The new ID cards were issued much later, starting in 2007 and continuing through 2008.
“Some people were smart enough to tally their service record date with what went into the ID card,” said Sonam Yeshey. But many did not; like Lungten. “I went with what the gup filled in from my village which is more accurate,” said Lungten. “The service book date record is what was filed in when I joined school.”
Next year Lungten will join many others, who have got their provident fund and are waiting to hit the right number to get the monthly pension. Source: Kuenselonline
