Hearing the plea of a septuagenarian, the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court has ordered release of his old age pension, which was discontinued, along with arrears, and grant pension till his lifetime.
Justice M.S.Ramesh directed the Tahsildar of Vembakottai, Virudhunagar, to release the arrears of old age pension to the petitioner Mottaiyan (72) from the date it was discontinued. The authorities should continue to pay pension every month till his lifetime, the court said.
The court observed that the authorities are duty bound to conduct proper enquiry for the purpose of granting a fresh pension and afford due opportunity to the claimant to establish his entitlement for old age pension.
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An enquiry should have been conducted to ascertain the petitioner’s status, the court said.
As no enquiry was conducted to ascertain the status of the petitioner and the pension was discontinued, the court said the old age pension should be granted to the petitioner.
The old age pension under the social security scheme was discontinued to the petitioner from 2015 after he was found to be employed as a night watchman, father of three daughters with own house.
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He had been enjoying the benefits since 2013.
Under the scheme, pension is given to a destitute person who shall have no source of income or the person’s fixed assets should be below ₹ 50,000. Their family members should have either failed to support them or they themselves are below the poverty line.
However, the pension for the petitioner was stopped abruptly. No enquiry or prior notice was served. The court allowed his petition after taking into account the fact that he was not in a position to maintain himself.