Woman’s pension stopped on false information

HC asks why the fact was not verified

MADURAI

The plight of a destitute woman, whose pension was abruptly stopped following a false communication that she was dead, has been brought to light. Following a petition by the woman, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday questioned why the fact that she was alive was not verified.

Justice R. Suresh Kumar directed the tahsildar concerned to file a report on what went wrong and why the facts were not checked. The woman was denied the welfare scheme by an unjustified reason and the action on the part of the authorities was not appreciated, the court observed and sought the report on July 3.

The woman, K. Sundarammal from Ramanathapuram district, in her petition, said that she did not have any legal heir andwas receiving old age pension from 2006. However, in 2015, revenue officials stopped the pension without any notice.

Her representation to the Collector of Ramanathapuram seeking answers were forwarded to the tahsildar concerned. She was informed that her name was removed from the list of old age pensioners, as they had received a communication that she was dead.

She complained that the authorities, without verifying the facts, had stopped the pension. Even after her representation, they did not revive it. Finding it tough to make ends meet, she sought a direction to grant old age pension from 2015.

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