Mumbai, Nov 26: Thee Bombay High Court while hearing a petition filed by one Jayram More, who used to work as a ‘hamal’ (coolie) with the Savitribai Phule Pune University since 1983, seeking a direction to the Maharashtra government to release his pension amount has pilled on Maharashtra Government for withholding the dues of a man for more than two years after his retirement.
A division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain said that such a “state of affairs was totally unconscionable”.
The high court noted that More had rendered a meritorious and unblemished service but still on untenable and technical grounds for a period of two years from his retirement from May 2021, he was not paid pension as in his plea he claimed that the pension was not being paid despite submission of all necessary documents by the University to the concerned department of the state government.
The court added that from the beginning of the present proceedings, we were wondering as to whether any person who superannuates after a long unblemished service should at all suffer such a plight, after having rendered a long service of about 30 years and be deprived of basic entitlement of pension, being the very source of livelihood.
The HC noted that this case was an “eye-opener” that if government officers promptly consider the grievances of its staff, then there would be no need for such aggrieved persons to approach the courts.
The Bench added that we may observe that many of such issues, in fact, do not require adjudication and can stand resolved at the level of the department, providing there is a willingness to do so, by the officers of the state government.
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