CHENNAI: It has been 17 years of struggle for K Tameena and her brother Ali Khan to get their father’s pension after his death as they were forced to run from pillar to post. But luck smiled on them at last on Friday after they got a helping hand from the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA).
Tameena, who has been divorced, and her brother, a transgender, were in distress after father A Kamal Batcha died in 2002 after retiring as head constable from the police department in Madurai.
“I got divorced and my brother was also carrying out odd jobs to make both ends meet at home. Seeing our plight, one of our father’s friends informed us about the government order that will grant pension entitlement to divorced women and the unmarried,” recalls Tameena.
Interestingly, the Tamil Nadu government issued an order in 2011, which announced that divorced and single daughters of government employees are also entitled to pension. As a result, the DSLA has been receiving a number of petitions. However, the petition of Tameena and her brother was caught in red-tape.
“It has been difficult as each of the government departments was turning down my petition citing missing of my salary details and place of origin certificates,” said Tameena.
“We applied for pension only in 2013. However, it was bogged down in delay as the department was turning the application down. A week ago, I submitted a petition to the Chennai DLSA,” said Ali Khan, her brother. On Friday, the duo, residing in Saidapet, received orders from the Auditor-General (AG) office after the intervention of the district legal services department.
I. Jayanthi, secretary, DSLA, said a letter was sent to the AG department seeking a reply to the petition received from the family members. The officials from the AG office sought certain documents which were required for the pension and the application was processed in two days, she added. Jayanthi said the legal services department has been receiving pension-related petitions from several people including even the retired judges.