Pension is a fundamental right, it is unacceptable to deprive anyone | Mumbai High Court

 

The Nagpur Bench of the Mumbai High Court held that pension is a fundamental right. A bench of Justices Ravi Deshpande and NB Suryavanshi, while hearing the petition of resident Naini Gopal said that denial of pension to any person is unacceptable. In fact, 85-year-old Naini Gopal retired from the Ordnance Factory in 1994 as an assistant foreman. He had complained over the action of the Centralized Pension Processing Center of the State Bank of India (SBI). He said that the monthly amount of his pension is Rs 11,400, but out of this, Rs 782 was being deducted every month. A total of Rs 3,69,035 has been deducted so far. Therefore, he filed a petition for its recovery.

 

In the case, the bank said that Rs 782 was being deducted from their pension since 2007 due to technical fault. The bank stated that the pension of the petitioner was fixed and hence he was treated as an employee below officer rank and not a civil pensioner. At the same time, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) authorized him to withdraw the additional pension amount given by mistake.

 

The bench said that according to Article 300-A of the Constitution of India, the pension payable to retired employees is property. It is a fundamental right constituted for livelihood under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Therefore, it is unacceptable to deprive any person of pension. Therefore, we the bank's action to reduce the petitioner's pension is illegal. ' The bench directed the bank to stop deducting his pension. Also asked to put the deducted amount so far in his account. Not only this, in view of the bank's insensitive behaviour towards the senior citizen, the High Court also asked the bank to add Rs 50,000 to the petitioner's account and said that if it was delayed in depositing the amount, the bank would be fined Rs 1,000 every day. have to give.