MADURAI: Nothing could be more gruelling for a retired government servant than having to wait for decades together to receive his/her terminal benefits and N. Sunthi of Aruppukottai in Virudhunagar district was one such victim.
Now 86, the former sweeper with the Aruppukottai municipality has been struggling to get the monthly pension and other emoluments for more than 30 years since her retirement on July 31, 1977. Reason: her service records were misplaced!
All her efforts to persuade officials went in vain, ever since she opened correspondence with them in 1977. Finally, she chose to knock the doors of the Madras High Court Bench here through a writ petition.
“My children are not in a position to look after me as they do not have a permanent job. Suffering from ailments and old age, I am at the end of my life,” read her affidavit filed in support of the petition.
Moved by her plight, Justice S. Nagamuthu summoned the Municipality Commissioner who assured to recreate the service records if the petitioner could furnish documents available with her in connection with the job.
Subsequently, the Additional Government Pleader informed the Court that the service record had been rebuilt and the Commissioner would soon submit a proposal to the Director of Local Fund Audit for disbursing monthly pension.
Recording the submissions made by the pleader, the Judge ordered that the pension proposal be submitted within a week and the Director, in turn, final orders passed within a month thereafter.
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