The Telangana High Court on Friday directed the state government to reconsider its decision to defer 50% of pension payments to retired employees due to the COVID-19 crisis.
The bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice T Amarnath Goud, who heard a writ petition filed by the Telangana Government Pensioners Joint Action Committee, contesting the government's order, instructed the government to file an affidavit on the matter by Wednesday.
On March 30, the Telangana government released a government order (GO) to defer 50% of pension to retired employees as a measure to handle the COVID-19 pandemic.
Arguing for the suspension of the GO, the petitioner's lawyer Chikkudu Prabhakar told the court that the pensioners spend large amounts of their pension money towards medicines and other medical expenditure. “In such circumstances, 50% deferment of the pension amount would land them in trouble in old age,” The Hindu quoted the lawyer as saying.
Responding to this, Advocate General (AG) BS Prasad told the court that the deferment was wrongly interpreted as a cut in the pension. The AG informed the court that the government had imposed the cut on many sections including legislators and ministers to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, unconvinced with the decision of the government, the court asked them to review their decision considering the problems of the old people. “Have mercy on them. It would have been better had the state imposed a nominal cut of 10% or so on the pensions of the older people,” The Times of India quoted the bench as saying.
The bench also sought details about the number of pensioners in the state and the quantum of money the government spends towards their pensions. The bench rejected the suggestion of the state counsel that the state would reimburse the medical bills of retired employees. The bench observed that the retired employees must first have the capacity to spend money on treatment, then the question of claiming reimbursement would arise, TOI reported.