More than a month after the Punjab and Haryana High Court admonished the state of Punjab for compelling an octogenarian to run “from pillar to post” to secure his deceased wife’s unpaid pension arrears, the amount has finally been released. It was credited to the petitioner’s savings bank account on September 28, just about 10 days after Justice Kuldeep Tiwari’s bench directed that four government and bank officers would not draw their salaries without its prior permission till the functionaries “collectively took effective steps to resolve the issue relating to payment of arrears of pension to the petitioner”.

Justice Tiwari noted that the arrears of pension payable regarding the petitioner’s deceased wife had remained unpaid since 2007. “Despite the petitioner having made all possible and earnest efforts to secure the release of the said arrears, the pension disbursing authority and the disbursing agency continued to pass the buck between themselves, with the result that the arrears remained unpaid for an inordinately long period.”

Justice Tiwari added the court was constrained to take strict measures against respondents, “whose collective failure to resolve the matter had resulted in continued hardship to the petitioner” after taking into consideration that the “petitioner was in the twilight of his life and had unfortunately been compelled to run from pillar to post to secure his rightful dues”.

Accordingly, the bench vide order dated September 18 ruled that the respondents concerned would not be entitled to draw salaries without its prior permission. “The directions yielded the desired result, and the arrears of pension payable in respect of the petitioner’s deceased wife, calculated at the rate of Rs 45,981 for the period from May 3, 2007, to July 31, 2021, were credited to the petitioner’s savings bank account on September 28,” the bench observed. Taking note of the developments, the bench disposed of the petition as having been rendered infructuous.

The bench was hearing the petition filed against the state of Punjab by Jagdish Raj Arora for releasing arrears of pension payable since 2007 “in respect of his deceased wife, Sudarshan Kumari, who retired as Block Primary Education Officer, Gurdaspur”.

Appearing on the petitioner’s behalf, senior advocate GS Bal along with counsel Laxman Choudhary contended that the arrears had remained unpaid “since circa 2007” despite the petitioner having made “all possible and earnest efforts” for their release. Bal added that the pension disbursing authority and the disbursing agency had been passing the buck with the result that the arrears had not been released till date.

Referring to the replies filed in the matter, Justice Tiwari had earlier during the course of hearing noted that the petitioner’s entitlement to the arrears was not disputed, even though the authorities concerned continued to take conflicting stands over their release.