HC notice to govt on pension ordinance

HC notice to govt on pension ordinance

SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com

TOI Hyderabad  20.06.2020

The Telangana high court on Friday issued a notice to the state government, asking it to explain its stand in three weeks to a petition filed by retired forest officer G Raman Goud.

He was challenging the recent ordinance of the government, imposing cuts in retired employees’ pension.

A bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy asked the government to file its counter in three weeks.

Appearing for the petitioner, senior counsel S Satyam Reddy told the court that the government’s action is without the sanction of law.

The judges, however, sought to know from Satyam as to how the action of the state was unlawful when Article 213 of the Constitution allows a state government and governor to promulgate such an ordinance when the legislative assemblies are not in session.

“As the ordinance violates the fundamental rights of individuals, it cannot be termed lawful,” Satyam said. To this, the bench said that during a pandemic period, there would be a clash between the larger public good and individual rights and ultimately it is the former that takes precedence over the latter.

The senior counsel insisted that the government could use such powers only during emergencies and not when no such emergency was declared by the government.

Advocate general BS Prasad sought eight weeks’ time to file the counter. But, the bench gave three weeks.

Petitioner’s counsel S Satyam Reddy insisted that the government could use such powers only during emergencies and not when no such emergency was declared by the government