The Centre on Wednesday warned government employees against participating in a rally to demand the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme in New Delhi, reported The Hindu.

“Any employee going on strike in any form, including protest, would face the consequences which, besides deduction of wages, may also include appropriate disciplinary action,” an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training said.

Employees of the Central and state government departments, under the banner of Joint Forum for Restoration of Old Pension Scheme and National Joint Council of Action, have organised a rally at Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan scheduled for Thursday to demand the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme.

In the Old Pension Scheme, employees get 50% of their last drawn basic pay plus dearness allowance on retirement. Under this system, employees do not have to contribute to their pensions on their own.

Under the New Pension Scheme, individual savings are pooled into funds during the employment period. Individuals can choose from a range of schemes promoted either by public sector banks or private companies.

The New Pension Scheme came into effect on April 1, 2003. Till January, there were 23,65,693 Central government employees and 60,32,768 state government employees enrolled under the New Pension Scheme, according to The Hindu.

In its Wednesday’s order, the Department of Personnel and Training said that the right to form an association does not include any guaranteed right to strike, according to The Hindu.

“There is no statutory provision empowering the employees to go on strike,” the order said. “The Supreme Court has also agreed in several judgments that going on a strike is a grave misconduct under the Conduct Rules and that misconduct by the government employees is required to be dealt with in accordance with the law.”

It added that pay and allowances are not admissible to employees for their absence and asked the secretaries of each ministry to dissuade the employees from going on strike.