Poor pensioners have no recourse but to request the media to highlight their plight.
ISLAMABAD: Just before the dissolution of the National Assembly, the government did what it does best. The Ministry of Finance is said to have taken appropriate measures to more or less block the implementation of orders of superior courts regarding the restoration of the commuted portion of pension. The ministry first said that implementation will take effect from July 1, 2013. It also said that all the beneficiaries will have to furnish an undertaking on judicial paper of Rs50 that they would refund the entire amount in the eventuality that the Supreme Court were to accept the government’s plea in a constitutional petition filed over the matter.
It should be noted that most pensioners are of old age and often not in good health. They hardly have the time or the money to challenge the decision through the country’s legal system. In fact, given the undertaking that the ministry is asking all pensioners to provide, on judicial paper, it would be fair to assume that any pensioner would not be able to spend the amount in case they may have to return all of it.
Poor pensioners have no recourse but to request the media to highlight the matter, as otherwise it will not come to the notice of the superior courts.
A poor pensioner
Published in The Express Tribune, March 25th, 2013.
