No pension for govt employees not completing minimum 10 years of service: Himachal minister

No pension for govt employees not completing minimum 10 years of service: Himachal minister

Himachal Pradesh government employees not completing minimum ten years of service would not be eligible for pension, state Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan said in the Assembly on Tuesday. Replying to a question of Lokender Kumar (BJP), the minister said that the service rendered as a contractual employee is not counted for pension as per the Central Civil Services (CCS) Pension Rules 1972, adding that a minimum ten years of service is required for availing the benefit of pension.

So far, pension under the Old Pension Rules has been released to 3,899 employees by the Office of the Accountant General, he said. Replying to another question of Hans Raj (BJP), the industries minister said that the Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission (HPSSC) was scrapped on February 21, 2023 in the wake of allegations of paper leak and it has been replaced by the Himachal Pradesh State Chayan Aayog on September 30, 2023 to ensure transparency in selection process.

He said that a Cabinet sub-committee has been set up to take decisions for considering declaration of the pending test results and the decisions would be taken after the recommendations of the sub-committee are received. There was no question of reviving the scrapped HPSSC, he said.

In his reply to a question by Daleep Thakur (BJP), the minister said that the detailed project reports (DPR) of MLAs priority schemes, which have not been prepared so far, would be prepared on priority. He said that during the past three years, 1,150 schemes were received under MLAs priority schemes out of which DPRs of 305 schemes have been prepared, 782 schemes are pending with various departments while 62 schemes were found to be "impractical".