The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has directed the District Social Welfare Officer, Unnao to provide old-age pensions to 15 persons.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Arun Bhansali and Justice Attau Rahman Masoodi heard a PIL filed by the persons who had approached the Court after being denied old-age pensions due to the non-availability of Aadhaar cards and mobile phones.
In this PIL, the petitioners claim that they are not in possession of mobile numbers or Aadhar Cards on account of their financial status/for lack of ridges on their thumb and fingers, Aadhar Cards are not being prepared and on account of lack of said mobile numbers or Aadhar Cards, they are being denied old age pension.
Counsel for the petitioners volunteered that the petitioners are prepared to subject themselves to any kind of verification other than the said two requirements of having mobile numbers or Aadhar Cards and on the respondents being satisfied, they may be directed to re-start the old age pension to the petitioners.
Counsel for the petitioners, however, submitted that he has information that few of the petitioners have died during the pendency of the petition.
Counsel for the respondents made submissions that no material has been produced to indicate that the old age pension was ever started and, therefore, the petitioners have to establish that they were being paid pension, which has been stopped, as was indicated in the earlier round of litigation by the petitioners by the Court. However, counsel for the respondents is not averse to making efforts to establish their identity even when they are not in possession of mobile numbers/ Aadhar Cards.
One such method to find out the existence/identity of the petitioners is through their bank account numbers, which are indicated in the list to the Supplementary Counter Affidavit, filed by the respondents as the Pass Books of the petitioners would be bearing their photos and as the claim pertains to the petitioners not possessing any other document, the said fact also can be verified, in case they appear personally before the respondents for the purpose.
“In that view of the matter, the available petitioners appear before the District Social Welfare Officer, Unnao on 29.02.2024 along with their Pass Books, accounts numbers whereof have been indicated or any other material to indicate that they were being paid the old age pension prior to its alleged stoppage. The Officer may satisfy himself about the genuineness of the petitioners, however, he would not insist on production of mobile numbers/Aadhar Cards and in case he comes to the conclusion about the genuineness of the petitioners and that they are not being paid old age pension, the same would be paid to them”, the order reads.
The Court has fixed the next hearing of the petition on 12.03.2024.