Pensioners Day – 17th December

All Pensioners must remember this day – 17th December 1982.  Let us remember and pay a humble tribute to the  late Shri D.S. Nakara who consistently  fought for many years and brought self-respect to the pensioners. It was on this day in 1982 that the Supreme Court delivered a judgment that gave dignity and purpose to the life of pensioners in India.  D.S._Nakara_&_Others_vs_Union_Of_India_on_17_December,_1982

Let us remember by  heart the words “Pension is neither a bounty, nor a matter of grace depending upon the sweet will of the employer, nor an ex-gratia payment. It is a payment for the past services rendered. It is a social welfare measure rendering socio-economic justice to those who in the heyday of their life ceaselessly toiled for the employer on an assurance that in their old age they would not be left in the lurch”.
uttered by Late Justice Y.V. Chandrachud, then Chief Justice – Supreme Court of India.
More than thirty years have since elapsed.
Strangely enough, the Government, like a despotic king, in these periods of globalisation, does not allow others a fraction of what it has large heartedly disbursed to its own Babus. Needless to say,  the  pensioners in banks are at the mercy of whims of Babus in ministry who have pocketed maximum  benefits for themselves and refuse to grant the same to others invoking legalities and hyper technical financial objections.

Nevertheless , those  who are suspicious and distrustful of Indian courts and their dilatory process must note that Pre 97 RBI  retirees are getting revised pension only on account of   the stay granted by Mumbai high court -WP2403 of 2009-,although the bank had issued letters  for making recoveries and in absence of the court orders helpless retirees were left with no alternative but to submit to huge recoveries . No organisation other than the court could have stalled the recoveries, and , as a consequence cause of updating  Pension would have been lost  for ever.

In the circumstances ,we should continue our fight towards seeking justice, and for that keep all possibilities open for achieving the goal.