Thursday, April 12, 2018

INALIENABLE RIGHTS

Sanitary worker wins legal battle 4 yrs after death

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com 12.04.2018

Chennai: A decade-long legal battle with the city corporation seeking pension dues has ended in victory for a sanitary worker, four years after his death. A labour court recently ordered an additional pension of ₹5.6 lakh to be paid to the deceased worker’s wife.

M Elumalai of Ambattur, a sweeper with the city corporation since 1970, was dismissed in 1994 for being absent without leave. When Elumalai challenged the dismissal, the labour court passed an award of ₹12,000 as compensation instead of reinstatement after which he moved the Madras high court.

In 2007, the high court modified the award and directed the corporation to treat the non-employment as compulsory retirement and pay him all terminal benefits.

When there was no response from the corporation, Elumalai filed a claim petition and, while awaiting a verdict on his petition, he died on May 12, 2013.

His wife Kanniamma and their son were impleaded as legal heirs and in 2017, the court ordered the corporation to pay ₹3.1lakh pension due to him from 1994 to July 2008.

Kanniamma moved the labour court seeking pension from August 2008 to May 2013 and 45 months family pension from the date of Elumalai’s death.

The corporation said it had already deposited a cheque for ₹4.56 lakh with the court on October 26, 2016 without prejudice to the case of the Madras high court judgement.

The labour court rapped the corporation for the delay and termed feeble its reasoning that the administrative sanction for the settlement of terminal benefit of employee was in process.

The court returned the balance to the corporation after paying the pension amount to Kanniamma.

On March 26, 2018, T Chandrasekaran, presiding officer of the additional labour court directed the corporation to pay ₹5.47 lakh to Kanniamma in addition to the pension already paid.

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