Form special cell for pensioners, pay pension at homes: HC to govt

Nagpur: Expressing deep concern over plight of pensioners and ill-treatment meted out to them by banks, the Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court on Wednesday directed Maharashtra government to constitute a separate cell for them. It was also told to devise a method to provide personal service through men of confidence, at the doorstep of aged, disabled and sick senior citizens.
“We direct registry to forward judgment copies to Centralized Processing Pension Centres of all nationalized banks along with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and chief secretary to constitute separate cell and release of appropriate guidelines to attain the constitutional goal of providing respect, dignity, care, sensitivity, assistance and security to all pension account holders,” a division bench of Justices Ravi Deshpande and Nitin Suryawanshi said.
While slapping Rs50,000 cost on State Bank of India (SBI) for illegally deducting pension from 85-year-old petitioner’s account, the bench blasted its authorities for showing “arrogance” and forcing petitioner to run from pillar to post, instead of showing sensitivity.
“The bank is the trustee of pensioners’ accounts. It has no authority in eyes of law to dispute pension payable to employees, other than its own. To tamper with such an account and effect recovery of pension without any authority is nothing but a breach of trust by the bank,” the judges said.
The judges warned SBI to pay fine within eight days towards expenses of petition, mental agony and harassment, else cost of Rs1,000/day would be saddled on it.
Petitioner Naini Gopal Roy knocked court’s doors after his pension was reduced from Rs9,974 to Rs9,102/month, as SBI claimed that Rs872/month was paid in excess due to technical glitch. The bank recovered Rs3,26,045 by deducting Rs11,040/month from August last year and claimed that Rs42,042 were yet to be recovered.
“The bank has failed to demonstrate any technical error in calculations. We hold that its action to reduce pension is illegal. We direct it to refund Rs3,26,045 to petitioner with 18% interest from date of deduction till it is credited in his account. We have to restrain the bank from recovering the balance amount,” the court ruled.
Terming the bank’s move as “unauthorized and illegal”, judges added, “The 85-year-old bears a big liability of mentally disabled daughter, aged about 45 years. She has to be looked after mentally and physically, and costly medical treatment is required to be administered.”
#What HC said:
* Devise method to provide personal service to disabled and sick senior citizens
* It should be done through men of confidence and at their doorstep
* Issue guidelines to attain constitutional goal of providing respect and care to all pensioners
* Forward judgment copy to all nationalized banks along with RBI and chief secretary
* SBI authorities showed arrogance and forced petitioner to run from pillar to post
* Bank is trustee of pensioners’ accounts, no authority to dispute employees’ pension