HC ends senior's 2-yr ordeal over held-up pension

MUMBAI: At a special hearing during the Diwali break on Tuesday, the Bombay high court ensured that a "hamal/coolie" who worked for 30 years with a state university is no longer wrongfully deprived of his pension. HC intervened and said though he was eligible for pension, he was denied it for two years-over an alleged age anomaly-since his retirement in 2021 from Savitribai Phule Pune University.The HC bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Jitendra Jain had on November 10, the last day before vacation, expressed its dissatisfaction at the state's compliance of its previous order to do right by Jayram More who had an "unblemished record" and entitled to pension. It directed the state, through secretary, higher and technical education, to fix his pension, not just "provisional pension".On November 21, the regular bench presided especially to pass final orders after Keshav Tupe, joint director of higher education, and Ajit Bawiskar, deputy secretary, higher and technical education, stepped in to put an end to the "petitioner's ordeal". On November 20, Bawiskar informed the state lawyer the pension was finally fixed and his arrears released by condoning his higher age at joining. Expressing its appreciation at Tupe and Bawiskar's "fair stand", HC said despite Supreme Court having 40 years ago laid down that "pension is neither a bounty nor a matter of grace depending on the sweet will of the employer" but a " social welfare measure rendering socio-economic justice to those who in the heyday of their life ceaselessly toiled for the employer for an assurance that in their old age they would not be left in lurch", the large number of petitions it regularly hears shows the apex court's interpretation of Constitutional provisions are more forgotten than applied in its true spirit.After hearing advocate Vaibhav Kulkarni for More and P J Gavhane for the state, HC said it wondered why should any person who retires after a long unblemished service be deprived of livelihood. More's case was "a gross case and completely infected by a totally callus approach of Dr Kirankumar Bondar who unwarrantedly created a situation of raising queries which were totally irrelevant as also disregarded the government resolutions...," HC said. "This case is certainly an eye-opener that if the officers promptly consider the grievances of the pensioners like the petitioner, there would be no need for the pensioners to approach courts," said HC. HC said it passed a detailed order as "the petitioner retired after 30 years of service as hamal/coolie. He is a senior citizen, he is suffering...".