HC directive to govt on PIL over pension

Madras High Court has directed the Tamil Nadu government to look into the issue of more than four lakh people being allegedly deprived of their monthly pension under social security schemes.
A bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice RMT Teekaa Raman passed the order recently on a PIL by social worker A Sampath.
Petitioner submitted nearly 36 lakh people, including differently-abled and widows, in the state were receiving monthly pension under the schemes. However, pension to 4,15,478 beneficiaries had been stopped without any notice.
Several grievance petitions were submitted to district collectors concerned and agitations had been held over the issue but in vain.

In response, the government counsel submitted that pension to select beneficiaries had been stopped due to reasons such as deaths and change of address. The government did not take the decision hastily but only after verifying records, he said.
The bench then directed the petitioner to collect the details of beneficiaries deprived of the pension and forward them to the authorities concerned who should look into the issue within two months.