By IANS,
New Delhi: Describing as inexcusable the inordinate delay in payment of retirement benefits to an employee of Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Tuesday asked the civic authority to pay Rs.25,000 as compensation to her.
NHRC recommended that the Commissioner of MCD pay compensation of Rs.25,000 to Usha Girdhar, a retired headmistress, for violation of her human right to live with dignity and has sought a compliance report along with proof of payment within six weeks from the date of receipt of the recommendation.
Girdhar retired from MC Girls Primary School, Mukherjee Nagar in the capital Aug 31 2003.
She filed a complaint with the Commission July 1, 2004, alleging that in spite of her several representations to the Director of Education and the Commissioner of MCD, her pension and General Provident Fund (GPF) were not released.
The commission found that Girdhar’s retirement benefits totalling Rs.662,774 were paid May 9, 2006, a good 28 months after her retirement.
NHRC issued a show cause notice to the MCD commissioner asking as to why it should not recommend payment of nominal compensation of Rs.25,000 to the complainant.
In reply, the MCD opposed the grant of compensation on the ground that the delay in processing of her papers was caused due to non-receipt of her service records from the management of her previous employer, Shri Laxmi Kanya Primary School, which was taken over by the MCD.
Disagreeing with this contention, NHRC said that had the process been started in right earnest, the duplicate service records of the complaint could have been prepared much earlier.
Keeping in view the facts and circumstances of the case, a compensation of Rs.25,000 was recommended to be paid by the MCD.