New Delhi, April 18: The General Insurance Public Sector Association (Gipsa), a body that represents the management of the four government-owned general insurers, is relocating its headquarters to Delhi.

“The Gipsa office in New Delhi will be operational from next month. For the time being, this will be the headquarters while our Mumbai office will act as branch,” said Gipsa chairman H. S. Wadhwa.

The Gipsa headquarters is expected to have a staff of 25-30 people who will take care of the concerns of public sector general insurance companies. M. Prasad, general manager from Delhi-based Oriental Insurance, is likely to be the chief executive of the association.

The motivation for relocating the headquarters to Delhi stems from the fact that the four state-owned general insurance companies have been de-linked from its erstwhile parent, General Insurance Corporation, now designated as the national reinsurer.

“We are now only answerable to the ministry for our domestic business. In order to form a close liaison and have easy accessibility with the finance ministry, it was important for us to relocate ourselves. This will help us work in co-ordination with the government on various policy issues,” said Wadhwa.

Gipsa members, who are meeting in the capital today, are likely to discuss the road ahead for the check-off system for union associations, which still has not been introduced. The four PSUs have been considering plans to introduce the system over the past year.

A check-off system is one wherein a union body representing less than 20 per cent of the employee representation collectively in the four public sector insurance companies is not permitted to discuss or negotiate on policy issues.

Presently, there are about 28 active unions and 48 registered unions representing public sector insurance companies.

A senior official from Oriental Insurance said: “It was the earlier verdict of the Madras High court and the recent order of the Calcutta High Court that has rather delayed the establishment of check-off system. Things have now become a little complicated.”

Other issues to be discussed during the meeting include the determination of cadre strength of various categories of employees after the introduction of VRS in classes I, III and IV respectively.

“We need to discuss how many employees need to be re-deployed after VRS. Wages of the new employees, promotions and new inductions will all have to be worked afresh,” said Wadhwa.