The Delhi government and the municipal agencies came in for severe criticism from the High Court for their slow pace in verifying the beneficiaries of old-age pension scheme. The court added that many beneficiaries had died awaiting the benefits.
Organise camps
Justice Manmohan directed the civic bodies and the Delhi government to “give wide publicity to the municipal old-age pension scheme and organise camps so that all eligible persons approach the State government for verification within time”.
On Delhi government’s submission that it had organised 155 camps so far and verified 13,993 beneficiaries, the Bench said that there was still a long way to go as there are over two lakh destitute.
The government said it has verified 13,305 cases of old-age pension and 688 cases of disability pension and they will be disbursed money by March.
Failure to comply
The court was hearing a contempt petition by NGO Social Jurist, filed through advocate Ashok Agarwal. The petition said that the AAP government and the civic bodies had failed to comply with the directions given by a Division Bench on January 20 for releasing old-age pensions. Mr. Agarwal said that the AAP government and the civic bodies are “frustrating” the court’s order while many beneficiaries have died awaiting pension.
