Delhi HC directs North DMC to release pension of employees by August end

The Delhi High Court on Monday directed the North Delhi Municipal Corporation (DMC) to release the pension of its retired employees, payable for the month of April this year, by the end of August.

A division bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Subramonium Prasad also issued a notice seeking the response of Delhi government and North DMC on a plea seeking to release the up-to-date pension of the retired employees of North DMC and to release the pension punctually.

The High Court listed the hearing on the petition, filed by an organisation Nagar Nigam Sewa Nivrit Karamchari Kalyan Samiti through advocate Ranjit Sharma, for further hearing on September 21 and asked North DMC to come prepared with instructions as to the timeline within which the arrears of the pension shall be released to the retired employees.

Standing Counsel advocate Mini Pushkarna accepted notice on behalf of the respondent North DMC and said the corporation had released the pension of its retired employees till March 2020 and steps shall be taken to release the pension for the month of April 2020 at the earliest.

The association, in its plea, sought a direction to the respondents to release the pension of the retired employees of the North DMC up to date and for direction to the respondents to release their pension on time every month with further direction to them to release the anears of the benefits of VIIth pay commission to them without further delay.

The petitioner also sought a direction to provide cashless medical facilities to all retired employees who have deposited the subscription fee on retirement for cashless treatment in empanelled hospitals.

Nagar Nigam Sewa Nivrit Karamchari Kalyan Samiti is an unregistered body of retired employees of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, who are above the age of 75 and physically disabled to seek redressal of their grievance.

It submitted that the petition is for the benefit of a large number of retired employees who are either individually litigating on the issue or are in the process of filing litigation for payment of pension every month and on time and for release of the benefits of the Vllth Pay Commission.

The petitioner said that the retired employees of North DMC have been facing the problem of non-payment pension since the year 2015.

"This problem was in South and East DMC also, however, both South and East DMC have regularized payment of pension with some delay. The problem in North DMC has been worsening. The North DMC has been paying the salary and pension of retired employees after a delay of two to three months," the plea said.

"Besides, the North DMC has not paid arrears of the benefits of the VIIth Pay Commission to the teachers and the retired teachers till date despite various representations," it added.

The plea said that the retired employees of North DMC are facing immense problems in meeting their daily expenses and added that some of them have medical problems, which require urgent treatment and care.

"These retired employees do not have any other source of livelihood other than their pension. If the pension is released after a lapse of two to three months, it is imaginable what difficulties they would be facing," the plea said.