Pension not charity, it’s a legal right: Civic body draws HC ire
Times of India | 26 May 2025
12345 Kolkata: Pension is not "an act of charity" but a legal right of employees, said Calcutta HC recently, while reprimanding Hooghly Chinsurah Municipality for blaming technological lapses for a delay in releasing the pension of 148 former Group D workers.The right was earned by employees by years of service and should not be delayed by a single day, the court said."This court is of the opinion that pension and other retiral benefits, once earned by an employee after rendering long service, ought not to be delayed, even by a single day. Delay in such cases causes undue hardship to the retired employees, who depend on these dues for their sustenance," Justice Gaurang Kanth held on Friday while hearing the case of a petitioner who, along with 147 others, was employed in 1991-92. Their posts — coolie, dome, methor, trailorman, and jharuyali — were later clubbed under ‘Conservancy Worker'.All of them were treated as permanent staffers.However, following the petitioner's retirement in 2023, her pension and other benefits were not released. An e-pension portal was adapted by Bengal municipalities in 2021 and data for this comes from an integrated online salary management system — the Urban Local Bodies Human Resource Management System — introduced in Aug 2017. Despite the change in names of the traditional posts, the retired employees didn't feature under any existing designation on the portal.The directorate of local bodies submitted in HC that the municipality had failed to provide details of all Group D staffers. Hence, pension and other benefits had not been released on the ground that their details could not be entered onto the portal, as they were not shown to be working under any post. It could only be released after their redesignation as conservancy workers.The court directed the municipality to submit all documents to the directorate within a week and for the latter to redesignate the employees within two weeks. In case sufficient vacant posts were not available, the municipality was directed to create supernumerary posts to accommodate the 148 persons, after which the pension would be released within four weeks.Justice Gaurang Kanth of the Calcutta High Court said that any undue delay in the disbursement of pension, "especially if occasioned by technological shortcomings or administrative lapses, is impermissible and contrary to the principles of equity, justice, and good governance."It is "incumbent upon the State and its instrumentalities to ensure that the deployment of technological systems does not result in hardship or deprivation to entitled beneficiaries," he added.The HC went on to say: "It is indeed disheartening that those who have devoted decades of their lives in service to the State, particularly Class IV employees, are now being subjected to undue hardship and delay in receiving their rightful dues. Technology is a tool for advancement and should serve as a means to ease the burden of governance upon the citizenry. However, in the present batch of petitions, it appears to have become an obstacle rather than a facilitator.This court fails to comprehend how a system designed for public welfare can operate in a manner so contrary to its intended objective. The authorities concerned cannot take refuge behind the excuse of a digital transition to justify administrative inaction or lapses."