The Hindu: Bhopal: Tuesday,
September 10, 2019.
1,110 days on, 70-year-old yet to get proper reply on salary and pension arrears
When Shriniwas Tiwari filed
an RTI application with his former employer, the PWD, in 2016, he was hopeful of a reply
on his salary and pension arrears within a month. Yet 1,110 days later, aged 70 and grappling with persistent dizziness, he is still awaiting information
that is not misleading but promises him his due.
“Despite having a High Court
order in my favour, I feel I have lost,” says Mr. Tiwari. “But if I lose hope,
many will continue facing injustice like this. I will continue fighting.”
High Court ruling
In 2009, Mr. Tiwari and his
colleague Lalji Sharma, employed in the department as time-keepers and retired
as such, moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court demanding that they be given
retrospective benefits of the time-bound promotion scheme. The court ruled in
their favour in 2010, citing the case of K.L Asre, extended such benefits as per the court’s
direction earlier.
Seeking details of the
benefits, if extended, both of them filed the five-point application at the PWD
office, Rewa, where they were employed. In 2017, they were provided a
misleading reply, and the same was repeated last month.
At a hearing in Bhopal on August
28, Rahul Singh, Information Commissioner, noted that contrary to the
information sought nothing relating to a second promotion was provided and in
the name of promotion-related information, older details were given. Moreover,
while Mr. Tiwari sought details of a hiked pension, details of a third person
were provided. “It becomes a more serious matter when false information is
presented before the Commission,” said Mr. Singh.
Imposing a fine of ₹25,000 on erring officials and serving a notice on the deemed public information
officer, R.K. Mehra, State PWD Engineer-in-Chief, Mr. Singh said,
“Salary-related payments after retirement are related to the Right to Life.
Despite the High Court order the department had taken no action. This shows the
callous attitude of the officials towards the case.”
Payment of arrears after
retirement was an issue that every government official had to face one day, he
said. “Many a time, employees become victims of systems of their own creation.”
‘Asking for my right’
Mr. Tiwari, who joined the
service in 1973 as a graduate, says 10 years later most of his co-workers were promoted. “What I am asking for
now is hard-earned money. I have served the department for 37 years and I am not begging anyone but asking for my right,” he says. At
the time of retirement, he was paid around ₹12,000 a month.
“The only regret is that if I
was promoted back then, I could have used the money for better education of my
children,” he says. While his one son works as a guest faculty member at a
college and earns ₹15,000 a month, another is
preparing for judicial services. During hearings, due to his infirm state, Mr.
Tiwari is represented by Lalji Sharma, 73, who’s lost his wife and a
son, and is supported by a second son.
Claiming Mr. Tiwari had been
paid his dues, Mr. Mehra told The Hindu, “Why didn’t he raise an objection when
the information was given at the Commission? Although I am the deemed PIO, I
didn’t have a chance to see the information provided.”
Narendra Sharma, the PIO at
the PWD, Rewa, said, “We will comply with the Commission’s order, but we have
provided the correct information and stand by it. We'll move the High Court
against it.”
Offering options for the
payment of arrears, Mr. Sharma said a letter was sent in 2018 to Mr. Tiwari, who asserted
he had not received any such letter.