Govt pensioners get justice through consumer courts

Kaur,aged 73,told the court that delay in paying her the reimbursement caused her much physical harassment,mental agony and financial loss. During the pendency of the complaint in the Forum,the department paid her Rs 2.03 lakh.

The Forum held that Kaur was not entitled to interest,but directed the department to pay her Rs 10,000 as compensation for the harassment caused to her,and Rs 5,000 as cost of litigation. Kaur filed an appeal in the Commission against the order,saying that she was entitled to the interest too.

Deliberating upon the case,President of the Commission Justice Sham Sunder and Member Neena Sandhu said that a period of four months could be said to be sufficient for settling such a claim. But the department sat over the matter for many years,not bothering about the plight of the aged complainant. For more than three years,she was made to run from pillar to post her legal claim. “Such an indifferent and callous attitude of government officials towards their ex-employee is condemnable,” held the Commission,and directed the department to pay interest to her for delay in payment. The Commission also increased the compensation to be paid to her from Rs 10,000 to Rs 40,000.

The Commission specified that the compensation must not be given from the taxpayers’ money,but recovered from the salary of the employees found guilty of delaying her claim. Deducting the amount from their salary would make them “shed their lethargic,lazy,apathetic,callous and indifferent attitude and deal with the cases of the citizens promptly,” said the Commission.

In a spate of cases recently,people who have retired from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) but where not given pension on time got justice through the UT Consumer Disputes Redressal Fora. The Fora ordered payment of pension,and also compensation to be given to the complainants for the harassment caused to them.

In one such case,the UT Consumer Forum ordered FCI to pay pension to complainant Raghubir Singh Dhillon,along with Rs 50,000 as compensation and Rs 5,500 as litigation costs. FCI filed an appeal in the UT Consumer Commission against the Forum’s order.

The Commission held that for more than two years,FCI delayed payment of pension to the complainant,who after retirement had no other source of income. In this light,the Commission dismissed the appeal filed by the Corporation with costs of Rs 5,000.