JOIN US Shanthamma (58), wife of a retired police constable, had to run from pillar to post for 13 years to get legitimate family pension. After knocking on the doors of SP Chikkaballapur, Central Range IGP and State DGP & IGP office, Shanthamma finally got the government order for release of pension with retrospective effect after the Upalokayukta's intervention.
Shanthamma’s husband M S Suryanarayana Rao, who was a constable attached to Sulibele police station on the City outskirts, took retirement under Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) in December 1987. Badarinath, younger brother of Shanthamma said that Suryanarayana was receiving his pension till 2003. In August 2003, he set out and never returned.
“We filed the missing person complaint at Chelur police station in Kolar district and the struggle for a family pension started since then. As per the rules, wife of a public servant is entitled to get family pension. Even three years after the complaint was lodged, there was no trace of my brother-in-law. When contacted, Chikkaballapur treasury department directed us to SP Rural office in Bengaluru. The SP rural office staff stated that the Service Register was missing,” Badarinath said.
Badarinath, along with his sister, petitioned the State DG&IGP for immediate release of pending pension since 2003 and also family pension. However, there was no response and Shanthamma, who works at an anganawadi at Tiralahalli in Chikkaballapur, had almost lost hopes on getting pension. As a last resort, Shanthamma filed a complaint to Upalokayukta Justice Subhash B Adi, requesting to direct the government on the issue. The Upalokayukta noted that since Suryanarayana Rao retired 26 years ago and is missing since 2003, both the unclaimed pension and family pension needed to be released at the earliest.
“I had summoned the officials at the Home department to submit action taken report in this case. The complainant had been seeking her rightful pension and there was no action on the said register which is missing. The Government has issued the order on June 12 releasing both the pension and the family pension,” Justice Adi said.