The Forum of Retired IPS Officers (FORIPSO)—representing officers across all IPS ranks in 26 States—has expressed serious concerns over the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the 8th Central Pay Commission (CPC), notified via Gazette on November 3, 2025.
The core concern is the phrase “unfunded cost of non-contributory pension schemes” in Para (e)(ii) of the ToR, which neither mentions pensioners nor acknowledges their rights and interests within the Commission’s remit.
According to J.K. Khanna, IPS, former DGP (Bihar) and Secretary, FORIPSO, “This terminology is inappropriate, as it equates constitutionally and judicially protected pension entitlements with fiscal liabilities and departs from the humane, welfare-oriented approach followed by the Government in all earlier Pay Commissions.”
He adds: “Pensioners perceive the existing ToR as negative and fear that the Government is, obliquely, mandating the 8th CPC to weed out ‘all unfunded expenditure’, assuming that only paycheck deductions can constitute ‘funding’. What about all the sweat and blood we ‘contributed’ to society and the nation during our long service careers?”
FORIPSO also notes that no such terminology (“unfunded scheme”) has ever been applied to the pensions of MPs, MLAs, Judges of the Supreme Court and High Courts, or other constitutional functionaries—though those pensions are likewise non-contributory and drawn from the Consolidated Fund of India.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly affirmed that pension is an earned right and a form of deferred wage, not a bounty—most notably in Deokinandan Prasad v. State of Bihar (1971) and D.S. Nakara v. Union of India (1983). Characterizing the Old Pension Scheme as an “unfunded cost” is therefore at odds with settled legal principles.
FORIPSO accordingly requests deletion of the phrase “unfunded cost of non-contributory pension schemes” and explicit inclusion of “existing pensioners under the Central Government, autonomous bodies, and other entities covered under the Commission” within the ToR.
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In its representation on the Prime Minister’s grievance-redressal portal, FORIPSO proposes that Para (e)(ii) be revised to read:
“(ii) the likely impact on the finances of the Government of India, the State Governments, and the pensionary liabilities relating to existing pensioners and family pensioners under the Central Government, autonomous bodies, and other entities covered under the Commission.”
Such an amendment would reaffirm the rightful inclusion of all existing pensioners within the 8th CPC’s purview—upholding constitutional fairness, judicial clarity, and the humane traditions of governance.
