Inquiry ordered into non payment of pension

A two judge bench of the High court at Hyderabad comprising Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice M Satyanarayana Murthy on Tuesday directed the government to inquire and report why even provisional pension was not granted and paid even after three years of court orders and the retirement of the government employee, who incidentally died pending the litigation.

The bench is dealing with a writ plea filed by a former Deputy Tahsildar, who was not paid post-retirement benefits at the instance of the District Collector Anathapur on the ground that there were certain charges levelled against him after retirement. The court found that though proposals for release of the retirement benefits and provisional pension were made as early as in March 2012, till date no payment was made.

The bench directed the Principal Secretary to cause an inquiry into the incident and report as to what action would be taken against the person responsible for the same. Poodattu Amarender counsel for the petitioner pointed out that the callous attitude of the authorities was further highlighted by the fact that the pension was not released even to the widow of the retired employee.