BENGALURU: Questioning the State Government for withholding the pension and all terminal benefits to be paid to a 72-year-old employee of a Directorate of Municipal Administration till now, though he retired in 2012, the Karnataka High Court directed the state government to pay him all benefits with interest and cost. To date, the government did not conduct an inquiry into alleged charges of misconduct against him.
Imposing cost of Rs 50,000 on the state government to be paid to the petitioner, Sadashivappa, residing in Thalaghattapura in the city, the division bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit and Justice CM Joshi said, “It pains us that this is not the first case where a pensioner has been put to untold hardship and cruelty at the hands of the government, which extracted his sweat if not blood for more than 33 years of service.”
Directing the urban development department to sanction and release regular pension and all terminal benefits to the petitioner within two months, with interest at the rate of 1 percent per month from the day it has been withheld, the court said the interest and costs may be recovered from erring officials of the departments concerned, in accordance with the law.
The court observed that since a retired employee holds his body and soul together with the periodic pension regularly paid, withholding the same amounts to suspending the means of livelihood, which offends the fundamental right to life.
The petitioner had stated that he was surviving on borrowed money, but there has been a stony silence from the side of officials. Ours being a constitutionally ordained welfare state, the government should conduct itself as a model employer, the court added.
The commissioner of municipal administration, in a letter to the urban development department in 2012, stated that Rs 8.25 lakh was disbursed to contractors without complying with central government guidelines, and hence this amount should be recovered from the officials concerned. Except this, nothing has happened.
The petitioner submitted several representations denying allegations and requesting the release of pension and other terminal benefits after re-fixing the pay. But it was not considered.
The petitioner moved the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal but his application was dismissed in February 2024. Against this, he moved the high court by filing a petition which was allowed.