Ex-DU staffers raise voice against delay in pension payment

Days after the Delhi University (DU) ad-hoc teachers staged multiple demonstrations for regularisation, hundreds of the retired teaching and non-teaching staffers joined hands on Thursday to protest against the long delay in payment of their pensions.

BC Sehgal, 71, retired as an Associate Professor from the Bhagat Singh College in 2011. He is one of the several former varsity employees who have been waiting for their pensions for the last many years. “I have written hundreds of letters to the university authorities but did not get even a single reply. I even wrote to the President and the Vice-President of India to draw their attention towards the matter,” he said.

After his retirement, Sehgal received neither the pension nor the money deposited in his Contributary Provident Fund (CPF). “Earlier, I was eligible for the CPF. Then in 1998, I opted for pension. Then I was informed that the amount deposited in my provident fund account would be returned to the varsity and I would get the pension after retirement,” he said.

He added: “During this phase of my life, the varsity has left me empty handed.” Sehgal now survives by working as a part-time consultant for a private university. He demanded that the university should provide him with one or the other thing with immediate effect.

Several other retired professors like Sehgal have been waiting for their pensions for years. “I retired as an Associate Professor from the Kirorimal College’s Economic Department in 2011. I am still waiting for my pension,” RA Choudhary said.

According to the High Court judgment issued on August 24, 2016, it is mandatory for DU to grant a pension to all its senior teaching and non-teaching staffers who were permanently employed in the varsity or its constituent colleges as on January 1, 1986.

“DU has committed a series of errors and omissions in the issue of pension. It has failed to implement the specific provisions of GOI office memorandum dated May 1, 1987,” said Amar Nath Gupta, a retired DU professor and Delhi University Teachers’Association (DUTA) member.

He added: “DU has also ignored the Supreme Court judgment in the Union of India vs SL Verma and others (2006) case. The present agitation by DUTA is against the failure of the varsity to implement the Delhi High Court judgment dated 24-8-2016. It is felt that the DU authorities are totally unconcerned about the plight of over 2,000 senior employees, who have not been getting pension though it is their legal right.”