The appeal comes after a Supreme Court bench dismissed a petition filed by retired employees of Powergrid Corporation, affecting pension benefits of those who retired before September 1, 2014.
Nagpur – Raising serious concerns over injustice to lakhs of retired employees, the Employees Pension Scheme (EPS-1995) Coordination Committee has written to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Bhushan Gavai, requesting his urgent and sympathetic intervention.
The appeal comes after a Supreme Court bench dismissed a petition filed by retired employees of Powergrid Corporation, affecting pension benefits of those who retired before September 1, 2014.
According to the Committee, the recent decision by the Supreme Court has “denied rightful pension benefits to senior citizens who retired before September 1, 2014.”
This judgment, they say, has caused deep disappointment among elderly pensioners who had hoped for justice.
In their letter dated May 20, the Committee’s national general secretary Prakash Pathak and national legal advisor Dada Tukaram Zode accused the Supreme Court bench of failing to properly understand and address their main issue, calling it an “arbitrary and unjust treatment.”
They urged the Chief Justice to step in and ensure justice is delivered, especially to the vulnerable group of elderly pensioners.
Highlighting their concern, Prakash Pathak said, “For the first time since 2004, we are not getting justice from the top court,” expressing his frustration over the sudden change in the judiciary’s approach.
He pointed out that pensioners have been engaged in a long legal fight to get higher pensions based on their actual salary.
He further noted that, “Till 2016, 10 special leave petitions (SLPs) filed by Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) were rejected. But since 2019, the trend has reversed against the pensioners.”
This shift, the Committee says, has worsened the plight of retired workers.
The Committee also reminded the CJI about the 2018 Kerala High Court judgment, which had declared certain amendments to the EPFO’s pension scheme illegal. That verdict was later supported by the Supreme Court itself in April 2019, adding weight to their ongoing demand for a fair pension based on actual earnings during service.
ALSO READ:
The pensioners believe that if these earlier decisions had been considered in the latest ruling, justice would not have been denied. Now, they are hopeful that the CJI will intervene to correct this injustice and restore the dignity and rights of those who have spent their lives serving the nation.
