The city government was on Wednesday directed by the Delhi High Court to respond to a PIL seeking directions for release of pension for widows, divorced or destitute women as their pleas have been pending for past several months.

The court also asked the concerned department to file a status report on it by the next date of hearing. A division bench of Chief Justice D Murugesan and Justice V K Jain sought a response from Delhi government’s department of women and child development and also asked it to file a detailed status report within two months.

“We direct the department of women and child development to file a detailed status report explaining the number of applications received by it seeking pension, how many applications have been rejected by it and also the reason of rejection,” the bench said.

The court fixed May 29 for further hearing of the matter. The PIL, filed by Delhi Anusuchit Jati Vikas Sangathan, a registered society, said that to provide social security, Delhi government had started pension schemes for widows and also the grants by way of financial assistance to perform marriage of their daughters.

However, needy women were not able to get the benefits under various schemes on time and their applications have been pending with the department for months.

Citing the applications of a group of needy women from Nangloi area, the petitioner said the amount has not been released despite the lapse of 10 to 11 months after submission of applications for pension.

Seeking the court’s direction for immediate release of the pension and other financial assistance to needy women, the petitioner’s counsel said the department should act on the applications in a time bound manner.