Himachal to implement Old Pension Scheme

Himachal Pradesh Council of Ministers today denotified New Pension Scheme and brought all covered under NPS under the Old Pension Scheme however it has made optional to Employees to opt NPS. The Cabinet meeting held here today decided to implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) to benefit 1.36 lakh employees and those new, who will be appointed in the Government service in future will also be brought under the ambit of  the OPS. Chief Minister, Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, presided over the meeting. It was decided that these employees will also be brought under the ambit of GPF and those employees under New Pension Scheme (NPS), who have retired after 15 May, 2003, will be given OPS from the prospective date. It was decided that after necessary amendments in the rules, the contribution by the government and the employees under NPS will stop from 1st April, 2023. No deductions would be made from the employees from their salary under NPS from 1st April, 2023. If any employee wants to be governed under NPS, he can give his consent to the Government for the same. The Government will spend an additional amount of Rs. 1000 crore in the fiscal year 2023-24 on the implementation of OPS. The cabinet has also passed a resolution to be sent to the Union Government to return an amount of Rs. 8000 crore under the NPS, to the state.

The Cabinet has asked the Finance Department to amend the rules and issue necessary instructions in this regard.