CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has ordered the government to evolve a mechanism to disburse retirement benefits to employees of municipal corporations within three months from the date of retirement without showing bias towards the position they held.
Flagging the sorry state of affairs prevailing in the municipal corporations and municipalities, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said it will be a disgrace to the employees if the government forgets their contribution while in service and the retirement benefits are delayed for long. A welfare state will be gauged and assessed by its treatment of vulnerable populations, particularly those in lower socioeconomic strata and senior citizens. “In no case the terminal benefits of retired employees should be postponed beyond three months from the date of their retirement. Such an arrangement must be evolved and this court must be informed regarding the future course of action,” he ordered recently. The order was passed on a petition filed by M R Sibi Chakravarthy, a retired assistant engineer of the Salem municipal corporation, seeking orders to disburse his retirement benefits amounting toRs 51.70 lakh, irrespective of the seniority for disbursement and the financial position of the corporation.
The judge suo motu impleaded the director of the municipal administration and water supply department as respondent.
Perusing reports filed by Salem municipal corporation, the judge noted that 194 employees have been waiting for their retirement benefits since 2017 and the settlement amounts to about Rs 200 crore. The retired employees are categorised based on their positions for disbursing the amount due to them.
Justice Venkatesh commented that in a country governed by rule of law and which follows a socialistic pattern of governance as per the preamble of the Constitution, all must be treated equally.
He further noted that non-payment of terminal benefits or other retirement benefits never happens to persons holding the post of power or persons holding higher posts but happens to lower-grade employees. This lopsided functioning on the part of the corporation can never be permitted, he said and pointed out such sad state of affairs is prevailing in other civic bodies too. The judge held that non-payment of retirement benefits to the employees is a violation of the fundamental right to life and liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.