CHATTISGARH GOVERNMENT – The government employees will be considered as members of the Chhattisgarh General Provident Fund from April 1, 2022.
Contents News/Article Date: 31st December 2022
Relating to which Act: National Pension System (NPS) is a contributory pension system
Applicable to which State: All the States and Union Territories
Type: After announcing in the Budget this year that Chhattisgarh would revert to the old pension scheme for state government employees, the Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Friday decided employees can shift back to the OPS after making a submission to deposit the contribution made by the state towards the National Pension System (NPS) and the dividend earned thereon.
Pertains to Chhattisgarh Government employees
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In this instance, After the Cabinet meeting at the Chhattisgarh’s CM’s residence on Friday, a state government official told “The decision has been taken despite the Central government’s point to refund the amount of NPS to the officers and employees of the state.” Under the OPS, state government employees will get 50 percent of their last earned pay (basic salary plus dearness allowance) as a pension on retirement.
Let us look at the Centre’s National Pension system
You are mandatorily covered under National Pension System (NPS) if.….
You have joined the services of Government of India on or after 01-01-2004 (except Armed Forces)
OR
You are an employee of a Central Autonomous Body who joined on or after 01-01-2004.
About NPS.…
National Pension System (NPS) is a contributory pension system. Contributions from your end with matching contributions from your Government employer are pooled into your individual pension account from the day you join the services of the Government and invested through professional fund managers to create a retirement corpus for you.
The National Pension System works on a defined contribution basis and will have two tiers – Tier-I and II. Contribution to Tier-I is mandatory for all Government servants joining Government service on or after 1-1-2004 (except the armed forces in the first stage), whereas Tier-II will be optional and at the discretion of Government servants.
In Tier-I, a Government servant will have to make a contribution of 10% of his basic pay plus DA, which will be deducted from his salary bill every month by the PAO concerned. The Government will make an equal matching contribution. However, there will be no contribution from the Government in respect of individuals who are not Government employees. Tier-II contributions will be kept in a separate account that will be withdrawable at the option of the Government servant. The government will not make any contribution to the Tier-II accounts.
NPS Investments- Where is your money invested? ……
The monthly contribution amount of 10% of the Salary [Basic + Dearness Allowance (DA)] paid by you and equally matched by your Government employer is deposited in Tier I of your PRAN. Your contributions are allocated to three Public Sector Pension Funds viz. SBI Pension Funds Private Limited, UTI Retirement Solutions Limited, and LIC Pension Fund Limited.
Exit from NPS- How to get your money back? ….. You can exit from National Pension System (NPS) under one of the following circumstances: – Upon Normal Retirement – Upon Death – Exit from NPS before the age of normal retirement (irrespective of cause)
List of State Governments Who have joined NPS
Various State Governments have adopted NPS architecture and implemented NPS with effect from different dates.
| SL No. | State | Type | Date of Notification | Date of Adoption |
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | Other Notification | 18-06-12 | 01-09-04 |
| 2 | Arunachal Pradesh | State Notification | 17-11-07 | 01-01-08 |
| 3 | Punjab | Other Notification | 09-07-12 | 01-01-04 |
| 4 | Punjab | State Notification | 02-03-04 | 01-01-04 |
| 5 | Orissa | Other Notification | 01-11-12 | 01-01-05 |
| 6 | Nagaland | State Notification | 28-01-10 | 01-01-10 |
| 7 | Mizoram | State Notification | 17-06-10 | 01-09-10 |
| 8 | Meghalaya | State Notification | 24-03-10 | 01-04-10 |
| 9 | Manipur | State Notification | 31-12-04 | 01-01-05 |
| 10 | Maharashtra | State Notification | 31-10-05 | 01-11-05 |
| 11 | Madhya Pradesh | Other Notification | 22-05-10 | 01-01-05 |
| 12 | Madhya Pradesh | State Notification | 13-04-05 | 01-01-05 |
| 13 | Kerala | State Notification | 07-01-13 | 01-04-13 |
| 14 | Karnataka | State Notification | 31-03-06 | 01-04-06 |
| 15 | Jharkhand | State Notification | 09-12-04 | 01-12-04 |
| 16 | Jammu and Kashmir | State Notification | 24-12-09 | 01-01-10 |
| 17 | Himachal Pradesh | State Notification | 17-08-06 | 15-05-03 |
| 18 | Andhra Pradesh | State Notification | 22-09-04 | 01-09-04 |
| 19 | Assam | State Notification | 25-01-05 | 01-02-05 |
| 20 | Assam | Other Notification | 18-10-12 | 01-02-05 |
| 21 | Bihar | State Notification | 31-08-05 | 01-09-05 |
| 22 | Bihar | Other Notification | 31-08-05 | 01-09-05 |
| 23 | Chhattisgarh | State Notification | 27-10-04 | 01-11-04 |
| 24 | Chhattisgarh | Other Notification | 01-08-12 | 01-04-12 |
| 25 | Goa | State Notification | 05-08-05 | 05-08-05 |
| 26 | Goa | Other Notification | 05-08-05 | 05-08-05 |
| 27 | Gujarat | State Notification | 18-03-05 | 01-04-05 |
| 28 | Gujarat | Other Notification | 23-08-13 | 01-04-05 |
| 29 | Haryana | State Notification | 18-08-08 | 01-01-06 |
| 30 | Haryana | Other Notification | 02-03-10 | 01-01-06 |
| 31 | Orissa | State Notification | 17-09-05 | 01-01-05 |
| 32 | Rajasthan | State Notification | 28-01-04 | 01-01-04 |
| 33 | Rajasthan | Other Notification | 20-06-11 | 01-04-04 |
| 34 | Sikkim | State Notification | 10-11-10 | 01-04-06 |
| 35 | Tamil Nadu | State Notification | 06-08-03 | 01-04-03 |
| 36 | Uttar Pradesh | State Notification | 28-03-05 | 01-04-05 |
| 37 | Uttar Pradesh | Other Notification | 21-03-12 | 01-04-05 |
| 38 | Uttaranchal | State Notification | 25-10-05 | 01-10-05 |
| 39 | Uttaranchal | Other Notification | 25-10-05 | 01-10-05 |
Subject: Chhattisgarh Government OKs old pension scheme; can’t return NPS money: Centre
For greater details, appended below is the complete news item
Bhupesh Baghel OKs old pension scheme; can’t return NPS money: Centre
The government employees will be considered as members of the Chhattisgarh General Provident Fund from April 1, 2022.
After announcing in the Budget this year that Chhattisgarh would revert to the old pension scheme for state government employees, the Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Friday decided employees can shift back to the OPS after making a submission to deposit the contribution made by the state towards the National Pension System (NPS) and the dividend earned thereon.
Under the NPS, a state government employee contributes 10 percent of her basic salary plus a dearness allowance, with the state making a matching contribution. The money is then invested in one of the several pension funds allowed by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. The state’s total NPS corpus as of now is Rs 17,000 crore.
After the Cabinet meeting at the CM’s residence on Friday, a state government official said, “The decision has been taken despite the Central government’s refusal to refund the amount of NPS to the officers and employees of the state.” Under the OPS, state government employees will get 50 percent of their last earned pay (basic salary plus dearness allowance) as a pension on retirement.
Central government officials said there will be resistance to any such transfer of funds, adding that it is unlikely to be a smooth process as there has been no precedence of transfer of funds from the NPS account to the account of the old pension scheme.
The state government employees will henceforth be considered as members of the Chhattisgarh General Provident Fund from April 1, 2022. The employee contribution deposited in the NPS account from November 1, 2004, or after to March 31, 2022, and the dividend earned thereon, will be payable to the government employee under the NPS rules, the state said.
Besides creating open-ended liabilities for future governments, reverting to the OPS will face obstacles in the immediate also. The Chhattisgarh Cabinet decision says employees will be allowed to switch only if they return to the state the latter’s contribution towards NPS. The pension fund regulator has already conveyed it will not return the corpus to the state.
But the Central government and the PFRDA have so far maintained it would not be possible to return the money deposited so far in the pension funds back to the state government. “There is no provision in the PFRDA Act or the regulations through which NPS funds can be returned to the state,” said an official, “This has been communicated to the state government,” the official added.
A state government official said, “Employees will be eligible for the old pension scheme, only after depositing the contribution of the state government and the dividend earned thereon. For this, the government employees will have to select the option of either continuing under NPS or receiving the benefit of the old pension scheme in a notarized affidavit. This option will be final and irrevocable.”
“The employees will get the amount deposited in the NPS out of which 50 percent is the state government’s contribution. The employees who are willing to shift to OPS will have to return the state government contribution to the state. After April 1, 2022, there is anyway no contribution to NPS,” the state government official said.
The share deposited by the government in the NPS account from November 1, 2004, to March 31, 2022, and the dividend received thereon will have to be deposited in the government’s account if the government employee opts for the old pension scheme, the state government official explained.
As per Friday’s decision, state government employees appointed on and after April 1, 2022, will compulsorily be members of the old pension scheme.
For future employees, it will not be a problem since the state government will not make any contribution to the NPS. “Henceforth, it will be a defined benefit pension system for employees,” another state government official said.