Prof. Ghazi Khan Case_ P L D 2007 Supreme Court 35
P L D 2007 Supreme Court 35
Present: Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, C. J., Abdul Hameed Dogar and Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, JJ
Haji MUHAMMAD ISMAIL MEMON, ADVOCATE Complainant: In the matter of
Criminal Miscellaneous Application No.226 of 2006, decided on 18th May, 2006.
Civil servant---
----Pensionary benefits, delay in---Good governance---Incident of death of an old retired civil servant and his wife was brought in the notice of Supreme Court directly---Contention of petitioner was that the death was due to starvation as the deceased civil servant could not get his pensionary benefits---Effect---Such was a pathetic condition that Government servants after having served for a considerable long period during which they gave their blood and sweat to the department had to die in a miserable condition on account of non-payment of pension / pensionary benefits etc.---Responsibility could be fixed upon the persons who were directly responsible for the same but at the same time it was an overall problem almost in every department, where public functionaries failed to play their due role in accordance with law---Resultantly good governance was suffering badly---Everyone who was responsible in any manner in delaying the case of such retired officers/officials or widows or orphans for recovery of pension/gratuity and G.P. Fund had to be penalized---Such lethargic action of responsible officials was in violation of Arts. 9 and 14 of the Constitution and was against dignity of human being that the old couple had to die in a miserable condition and for about three years no action was taken by concerned quarters in finalizing the pension case---When matter had come to Supreme Court, for the first time, officials concerned started moving in different directions just to show their efficiency and to clear their position before Supreme Court---Such conduct of officials was highly condemnable and could not be encouraged in any manner---Supreme Court directed all Government departments, agencies and officers deployed to serve general public within the limit by the Constitution as well as by the law, would not cause unnecessary hurdle or delay in finalizing payment of pensionary/retirement benefit cases---Violation of directions of Supreme Court would amount to criminal negligence and dereliction of duty assigned to them---Having noticed such miserable condition prevailing in departments particularly relating to payment of pension to retired Government servants or widows or orphans, Supreme Court directed all Provincial Governments as well as Accountant Generals and Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue to ensure in future strict adherence of pension rules and to clear such cases within a period not more than two weeks without fail---Petition was disposed of.
Muhammad Sarwar Khan, Addl. A.-G., Sindh Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha, Secretary Education, Zulfikar Ali Kadri, Accountant-General, Sindh, Fateh Muhammad Qureshi, Dy. Accountant General, Abdul Aziz Sheikh, Deputy Secretary, S&GAD (on behalf of Chief Secretary, Sindh).
Prof. Muhammad Raees Alvi, Registrar, University of Sindh.
Prof. M.S.K, Lodhi, Ex-Principal, Jamia Millia Government Degree College, Malir Karachi (all are on Court Notice).
ORDER
IFTIKHAR MUHAMMAD CHAUDHRY, C.J.---This application has been filed by one Haji Muhammad Ismail Memon, Advocate, in respect of the incident of death of an Educationist, namely, Prof. Ghazi Khan Jakhrani 70 years old and his 65 years old wife whose dead bodies were found decomposed condition after 15 days of their death from a house. They reportedly died due to starvation because of long delay in the payment of pension and other dues of Professor, Ghazi Khan. It is stated that he had developed the disease of Cancer but could not get himself treated for want of financial resources as his case for payment of pensionary/retiring benefits since 2000 to onward. It could not be finalized for one or the reason mainly on account of technical objections raised by the office of Accountant General and also for the reason that the pension papers were not submitted one year prior to his retirement as required by The West Pakistan Civil Servants Pension Rules, 1963, Chapter V whereof envisages as under:--
CHAPTER-V--APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF PENSION
5.1. All authorities dealing with applications for pensions under these rules should bear in mind that delay in the payment of pensions involves peculiar hardship. It is essential to ensure, therefore, that a Government servant begins to receive his pension on the date on which it becomes due.
5.2. The responsibility for initiation and completion of pension papers is that of the Head of Department, Attached Department concerned in the case of Gazetted Officers and of the Head of Office concerned in the case of non-Gazetted Government servants. The action should be initiated one year before a Government servant is due to retire so that pension may be sanctioned a month before the date of his retirement. For this purpose every Government servant should be asked to submit his pension application in Form 3 (Pen) 6 months in advance of the date of his retirement; provided that
(i) in cases in which the date of retirement cannot be foreseen 6 months in advance, the Government servant may be asked to submit his pension application immediately after the date of his retirement is known; and
(ii) a Government servant proceeding on leave preparatory to retirement in excess of 6 months may be asked to submit his application at the time of proceeding on such leave.
5.3. (i) The following certificate shall be recorded by the Government servant in the pension application:--
"I hereby declare that I have neither applied for nor received any pension or gratuity in respect of any portion of the service included in this application and in respect of which pension or gratuity is claimed herein, nor shall I submit an application hereafter without quoting a reference to this application and to the orders which may be passed thereon."
(ii) The Head of Department/Attached Department/ Office concerned shall certify in the previous application form whether the character, conduct and past services of the Government servant concerned are such as to entitle him to the favourable consideration of Government. He shall also record there his own opinion whether the service claimed has been established and should be admitted or not.
(iii) All periods of leave, suspension, etc., which are not reckoned as service qualifying for pension shall be carefully recorded on the form.
(iv) If the application is for an invalid pension the requisite medical certificate shall be attached to the application.
5.4. (i) After completing the application in the manner prescribed in the preceding rule it shall be forwarded along with the necessary documents to the Audit Officer through the authority empowered to sanction the pension.
(ii) The applicant for pension/gratuity shall submit the last pay certificate and no demand certificate as soon as possible after the submission if the application for pension/gratuity. The Audit Officer shall not issue the pension gratuity payment order until these certificate have been received by him.
(iii) The authority competent to sanction shall record on the application after due consideration of the facts of the case his provisional recommendation stating whether the pension claimed should be admitted or not.
5.5. (i) The non-gazetted service of a Government servant in the application form shall be verified by the Head of Office concerned from official records for example service book or roll, pay bill or acquaintance rolls, etc.
(ii) If it be found impossible to verify the service otherwise a written statement of the applicant shall be taken on plain paper, and such collateral evidence as may be procurable shall be collected, for instance, certificates given by an officer to a subordinate on his leaving the office and the testimony of contemporary Government servants.
Note- The power to admit service verified under this clause may be exercised by all authorities empowered to sanction pension.
(iii) In cases where some portion of pensionable service was rendered in India but certificate of local verification of service was not recorded in the service book for any particular period, steps shall be taken to verify that service from available records, if any, such as personal files, gradation lists, pay bills acquaintance rolls, etc. Where none of the records are available, a written statement of the Government servant concerned shall be taken on a plain paper accompanied by the testimony of contemporary Government servants as in sub-rule (2) above. Such declaration should be placed on record in service book in lieu of local verification for service for that period.
(iv) Where no official evidence for example service book, in respect of service rendered in India is available, an Indemnity Bond shall be obtained from the person concerned for refund of any amount which might later on be found to have been paid to him in excess.
(v) The Head of Office/Department/Attached Department concerned shall then arrange with the application all the documents relied upon for the verification of non-gazetted service claimed in such manner that they can be conveniently consulted, and forward them together with the Government servant's service book or service roll as the case may be, and the statement in the second page of the pension application form duly completed up-to-date (and the last pay certificate, if necessary) through the authority empowered to sanction the pension to the Audit Officer.
5.6. On receipt of the pension papers the Audit Officer shall apply the requisite checks. If in cases in which the authority competent to sanction the pension has recorded its provisional recommendation under sub-rule (3) of rule 5.4., the Audit Officer finds that the claim is in order, he shall prepare the pension payment order forthwith in Form 4 (Pen.), but shall not issue it more than a fortnight in advance of the date on which the Government servant is due to retire, intimating the fact of issue to that authority. In other cases he shall certify as to the correctness of the calculations of service and pension, and return the pension papers to the authority competent to sanction the pension with a report on the claim for pension and the rules applicable to the case. He shall retain the last pay certificate unless the pension is to be paid in another circle of audit in which case he shall forward the certificate to the Audit Office of that circle along with a copy of the orders sanctioning the pension.
5.7 (i) A pension/gratuity which is certified by the Audit Officer shall be sanctioned by the authority competent to sanction the pension.
(ii) Orders sanctioning the pension may issue not more than one month in advance of the due date of retirement and the Audit Officer may issue the pension/pension payment order not more than a fortnight in advance thereof to the Treasury Officer who is to pay the pension/gratuity.
5.8. Date of commencement of pension-Apart from special orders, an ordinary pension is payable from the date on which the pensioner ceases to be in Government service. A gratuity (other than anticipatory gratuity) shall be paid in a single sum".
2. Admittedly, when pension case of the deceased professor could not finalized, he suffered from mental agony of distresses as well as disease of cancer and ultimately the poor man died in a helpless condition without getting the benefit of pension. It is reported that his wife also died within a short span of time and dead bodies of both of them recovered lying inside the improvised type of home for a period of at least two weeks. Subsequently, petitioner/complainant made hue and cry in the name of humanity by approaching different authority/forums but without any success. However, ultimately the Chief Secretary, Government of Sindh was persuaded to have a probe in the matter. As a result whereof Mr.Nisar Ahmad Siddiqui, the then Secretary Women Development Department, Government of Sindh, was appointed as Inquiry Officer on 22-12-2003 but he could not do the needful and in the meanwhile he was retired. Thereafter, Mr. Sabhigo Khan Jatoi, the then Secretary Agriculture, Government of Sindh, was appointed as Inquiry Officer with the direction to complete the inquiry within one month but he also failed to complete the same and kept the file with him for a long period. Meanwhile, the complainant approached this Court by submitting Miscellaneous Application pointing out the violation of fundamental rights of life and property under Article 9 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 of the deceased Professor Ghazi Khan Jakhrani. On receipt of his complaint, Mr. Sadiq Hussain Bhatti, District and Sessions Judge, Malir, Karachi, was directed to conduct inquiry in the matter vide order, dated 26-4-2006. In the meantime the Government of Sindh through his Chief Secretary, realizing about taking of cognizance by this Court, accelerated efforts for getting a report from the Inquiry Officer, who ultimately submitted his report on 16-5-2006, obviously after the issuance of notice by this Court. Concluding para from the inquiry report is reproduced herein-below:
"Keeping in view the above examination, I am of the opinion that Prof. M.S.K. Lodhi, Principal Jamia Millia Govt. Degree College is mainly responsible for delaying the pension papers. Had he taken steps in right direction, the pension could have been finalized much earlier. He failed to take up with the appropriate authorities for getting up the non-gazetted period of late Ghazi Khan counted. He also failed for sending the final G.P. Fund papers to the competent authority in time, in case pension papers were not complete.
Prof. Ghazi Khan Jakhrani collected pension papers/G.P. Fund papers from the office of A.G. Sindh on 11-6-2003 and seems to have not been submitted to the Education Department for removing objections/observation of A.G. Sindh. As such some delay also occurred on his part."
3. In the meanwhile the learned District and Sessions Judge, Malir, also submitted inquiry report holding responsible for not finalizing the pension case of the late professor to a good number of Officers both from the Education Department of Sindh Government as well as from the office of Accountant General Sindh. Recommendations so made by him in the report are reproduced below:
(i) Mr. Muzaffar Jamal Assistant Account Officer A.G. Sindh Pay fixation section, was responsible on account of raising irrelevant/illegal observation and Mr. Nadeem Iftikhar Assistant Account Officer A.G. Sindh, Karachi, is also responsible on the ground that instead of calling clarification from Secretary Education handed over the observation papers to ailing Professor Ghazi Khan Jakhrani (late). Both these officials of A.G. Sindh at the time of his final payment have come in the way of release of his legal dues and they also played major role in non-payment of his legal dues.
(ii) Messrs Dr. Mujeeb Feroze and Haroon Rasheed, District Education Officers Colleges, were also equally responsible for delaying the pension papers, on one pretext or the other, as at that time they were posted as D.O. Education Colleges.
(iii) Professor Raees Alvi EDO Higher Karachi and Messrs Muhammad Shareef Baloch, Nazar Hussain Mahar and Ghulam Ali Pasha, Secretaries Education, Government of Sindh, who at the time were on the said posts, were also responsible on account of not referring the matter to the Pension Cases Disposal Committee and by not taking any departmental action against their subordinates on submission of pension papers very late after the expiry of three years.
4. It may be noted that it is not only the case of late Prof. Ghazi and his wife who had died allegedly due to starvation as they had no financial resources to feed themselves but there are a large number of identical case of the retired government officers/officials as well as widows and their children which are being reported from time to time in the media. Predecessors of deceased government servants have to wait for a long period to get cleared their pension papers. It is also an admitted fact all over the country the offices of Accountants General usually raise baseless, frivolous and technical objections for causing delay in finalizing the pension case with ulterior motives, of course, known to them best. However, when this case was taken up, we were informed that in the month of January, 2006, there were several pension cases pending in the office of Accountant General, Sindh, and the majority of them, have been cleared and on the last date of hearing, it was pointed out by Mr. Fateh Muhammad Qureshi, Deputy Accountant General that about 100 cases of pension were still pending for clearance. He was directed to finalize these cases without any further delay. Today, he has made a categorical statement before the Court that all such cases have been cleared. Mr. Zulifikar Ali Kadri, Accountant General, Sindh, also appeared and stated that following measures have been adopted for disposal of pension and G.P. Fund cases expeditiously in future:--
INITIATIVE FOR SPEEDY DISPOSAL OF PENSION AND G.P. FUND CASES
The forum of Khuli Katchery (Open Court), is held on every Friday, to provide instant redressal to the complainants. The AG himself addresses the grievances of Pension and G.P. Fund subscribers and provide on the spot remedy. About 118 Pension and G.P. Fund cases have been disposed of during the period from December, 2004 to 12th May, 2006.
Letters to all the Heads of the Departments were written for submission of pension cases in this office six months before retirement of expected retirees as per paras. 5.1 to 5.9 of the Pension Liberalized Rules 1964 and Presidential Order (F/C).
Daily monitoring of Pension cases by raising the level of responsibility at the level of Deputy Accountant General/Additional Accountant General.
Letters were written to all the Departments to appoint focal persons to co-ordinate with A.G. Sindh for speedy disposal of Pension and G.P. Fund cases, but a slow response has been received from the Departments.
FUTURE ACTION PLAN
As a first instance data collection of all the expected retirees for the years, 2006 and 2007, has been made by this office to expeditiously process the Pension and GPF cases of expected retirees of the years, 2006 and 2007, through computerized system of Pension and GPF cases modules to be installed in this office in near future.
Pensioner's Directory
In order to facilitate pensioner, pensions directory in respect of all the District of the Province have been complied.
As an initiative the list of employees retiring up to December, 2007 has been prepared.
The executive departments are being pursued vigorously to process the cases in time and submit cases complete in all respects, with all required documents, and to interact till the finalization of cases."
5. According to him, the above procedure if adhered to would facilitate and would be beneficial for early disposal of the pension cases. He has also assured that in future no delay would be caused in clearing the pension cases.
6. On the last date of hearing, we had directed the learned Additional Advocate General, Sindh, to convene a meeting with the Chief Secretary, Sindh, with a view to ascertain that what action has been initiated against the Officers of the Provincial Government who were responsible for causing delay of pension case of late Prof. Ghazi Today. He has placed on record a letter, dated 17-5-2006, the perusal whereof indicates that Mr. M. S.K. Lodhi, Principal, Jamia Millia Government Degree College, Malir, Karachi, being prima facie responsible for the delay in disposal of the finalization of the pension case, has been placed under suspension vide order, dated 17-5-2006 and he has also been served with show-cause notice under the Removal from Service (Special Powers) Sindh Ordinance, 2000. Similarly, Accountant General had stated that he has taken steps for taking action according to the rules against the delinquent officers/officials of his department responsible for causing delay and the progress in this behalf shall be made soon.
7. It is pathetic condition that Government servants, after having served for a considerable long period during which they give their blood and sweat to the department had to die in a miserable condition on account of nonpayment of pension/pensionary benefits etc. The responsibility, of course, can be fixed upon the persons who were directly responsible for the same but at the same time we are of the opinion that it is an overall problem mostly in every department, where public functionaries failed to play their due role even in accordance with law. Resultantly, good governance is suffering badly. Thus everyone who is responsible in any manner in delaying the case of such retired officers/official or widows or orphan children for the recovery of pension/gratuity and G.P. Fund has to be penalized. As their such lethargic action is in violation of Articles 9 and 14 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973. Admittedly, it is against the dignity of a human being that he has to die in miserable condition and for about three years no action has been taken by the concerned quarters in finalizing the pension case and now when the matter came up before the Court, for the first time, they are moving in different directions just to show their efficiency and to clear their position before the Court. Such conduct on their behalf is highly condemnable and cannot be encouraged in any manner.
8. We, therefore, direct that all the Government Departments, Agencies and Officers deployed to serve the general public within the limit by the Constitution as well as by the law shall not cause unnecessary hurdle or delay in finalizing the payment of pensionary/retirement benefits cases in future and violation of these directions shall amount to criminal negligence and dereliction of the duty assigned to them. Thus having noticed such miserable condition prevailing in the department particularly relating to the payment of the pension to retired Government servants or widows or orphan children, we direct all the Chief Secretaries of the Provincial Governments as well as the Accountant Generals and the Accountant General Pakistan Revenue, Islamabad, to ensure future strict adherence of the pension rules reproduced hereinabove and clear such cases within a period not IA more than two weeks without fail.
9. Similarly, the Chief Secretaries shall also issue instructions along with the copy of this judgment to the Heads of the Departments including responsible officers to initiate and finalize the pension cases well in advance from the date of retirement of Government servant without fail as required by rule 5-2 of Chapter V of the West Pakistan Civil Servants Pension Rules, 1963.
10. The object in issuance of above directions to the concerned authorities is only to make them realize their duties and responsibilities, which they owe to the retiring government servants.
11. We also direct that in future if there is any delay in the finalization of the pension benefits cases of the government servants, widows or orphan children and matter is brought to the notice of this Court, the head of the concerned department shall also be held liable for the contempt of the Court and shall be dealt with strictly in accordance with law.
12. Chief Secretary, Government of Sindh, is directed to comply with the observations made in the inquiry report submitted by the District and Sessions Judge, Malir, Karachi, and finalize proceedings against the persons whosoever, have been named therein according to relevant provisions of law expeditiously but not more than a period of six weeks. He shall submit a report in this regard to the Registrar of this Court for our perusal in Chambers.
13. The pension and other dues of late Professor Ghazi Khan Jakhrani shall be calculated and the amount shall be paid to his legal heirs, if any, otherwise, the Chief Secretary shall deal with the amount being unclaimed in accordance with law. A copy of final order passed against responsible persons, shall 'also be handed over to petitioner Haji Muhammad Ismail Memon, Advocate, resident of Jatoi, District Thatta by the Chief Secretary, Government of Sindh. We appreciate his efforts in surfacing the case of late Professor Ghazi Khan Jakhrani pointing out general miseries of retired Government officers, which they have faced in getting their pension.
The Criminal Miscellaneous Application is, disposed of accordingly.
M.H./M-163/SC Order accordingly.
Present: Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, C. J., Abdul Hameed Dogar and Saiyed Saeed Ashhad, JJ
Haji MUHAMMAD ISMAIL MEMON, ADVOCATE Complainant: In the matter of
Criminal Miscellaneous Application No.226 of 2006, decided on 18th May, 2006.
Civil servant---
----Pensionary benefits, delay in---Good governance---Incident of death of an old retired civil servant and his wife was brought in the notice of Supreme Court directly---Contention of petitioner was that the death was due to starvation as the deceased civil servant could not get his pensionary benefits---Effect---Such was a pathetic condition that Government servants after having served for a considerable long period during which they gave their blood and sweat to the department had to die in a miserable condition on account of non-payment of pension / pensionary benefits etc.---Responsibility could be fixed upon the persons who were directly responsible for the same but at the same time it was an overall problem almost in every department, where public functionaries failed to play their due role in accordance with law---Resultantly good governance was suffering badly---Everyone who was responsible in any manner in delaying the case of such retired officers/officials or widows or orphans for recovery of pension/gratuity and G.P. Fund had to be penalized---Such lethargic action of responsible officials was in violation of Arts. 9 and 14 of the Constitution and was against dignity of human being that the old couple had to die in a miserable condition and for about three years no action was taken by concerned quarters in finalizing the pension case---When matter had come to Supreme Court, for the first time, officials concerned started moving in different directions just to show their efficiency and to clear their position before Supreme Court---Such conduct of officials was highly condemnable and could not be encouraged in any manner---Supreme Court directed all Government departments, agencies and officers deployed to serve general public within the limit by the Constitution as well as by the law, would not cause unnecessary hurdle or delay in finalizing payment of pensionary/retirement benefit cases---Violation of directions of Supreme Court would amount to criminal negligence and dereliction of duty assigned to them---Having noticed such miserable condition prevailing in departments particularly relating to payment of pension to retired Government servants or widows or orphans, Supreme Court directed all Provincial Governments as well as Accountant Generals and Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue to ensure in future strict adherence of pension rules and to clear such cases within a period not more than two weeks without fail---Petition was disposed of.
Muhammad Sarwar Khan, Addl. A.-G., Sindh Ghulam Ali Shah Pasha, Secretary Education, Zulfikar Ali Kadri, Accountant-General, Sindh, Fateh Muhammad Qureshi, Dy. Accountant General, Abdul Aziz Sheikh, Deputy Secretary, S&GAD (on behalf of Chief Secretary, Sindh).
Prof. Muhammad Raees Alvi, Registrar, University of Sindh.
Prof. M.S.K, Lodhi, Ex-Principal, Jamia Millia Government Degree College, Malir Karachi (all are on Court Notice).
ORDER
IFTIKHAR MUHAMMAD CHAUDHRY, C.J.---This application has been filed by one Haji Muhammad Ismail Memon, Advocate, in respect of the incident of death of an Educationist, namely, Prof. Ghazi Khan Jakhrani 70 years old and his 65 years old wife whose dead bodies were found decomposed condition after 15 days of their death from a house. They reportedly died due to starvation because of long delay in the payment of pension and other dues of Professor, Ghazi Khan. It is stated that he had developed the disease of Cancer but could not get himself treated for want of financial resources as his case for payment of pensionary/retiring benefits since 2000 to onward. It could not be finalized for one or the reason mainly on account of technical objections raised by the office of Accountant General and also for the reason that the pension papers were not submitted one year prior to his retirement as required by The West Pakistan Civil Servants Pension Rules, 1963, Chapter V whereof envisages as under:--
CHAPTER-V--APPLICATION FOR GRANT OF PENSION
5.1. All authorities dealing with applications for pensions under these rules should bear in mind that delay in the payment of pensions involves peculiar hardship. It is essential to ensure, therefore, that a Government servant begins to receive his pension on the date on which it becomes due.
5.2. The responsibility for initiation and completion of pension papers is that of the Head of Department, Attached Department concerned in the case of Gazetted Officers and of the Head of Office concerned in the case of non-Gazetted Government servants. The action should be initiated one year before a Government servant is due to retire so that pension may be sanctioned a month before the date of his retirement. For this purpose every Government servant should be asked to submit his pension application in Form 3 (Pen) 6 months in advance of the date of his retirement; provided that
(i) in cases in which the date of retirement cannot be foreseen 6 months in advance, the Government servant may be asked to submit his pension application immediately after the date of his retirement is known; and
(ii) a Government servant proceeding on leave preparatory to retirement in excess of 6 months may be asked to submit his application at the time of proceeding on such leave.
5.3. (i) The following certificate shall be recorded by the Government servant in the pension application:--
"I hereby declare that I have neither applied for nor received any pension or gratuity in respect of any portion of the service included in this application and in respect of which pension or gratuity is claimed herein, nor shall I submit an application hereafter without quoting a reference to this application and to the orders which may be passed thereon."
(ii) The Head of Department/Attached Department/ Office concerned shall certify in the previous application form whether the character, conduct and past services of the Government servant concerned are such as to entitle him to the favourable consideration of Government. He shall also record there his own opinion whether the service claimed has been established and should be admitted or not.
(iii) All periods of leave, suspension, etc., which are not reckoned as service qualifying for pension shall be carefully recorded on the form.
(iv) If the application is for an invalid pension the requisite medical certificate shall be attached to the application.
5.4. (i) After completing the application in the manner prescribed in the preceding rule it shall be forwarded along with the necessary documents to the Audit Officer through the authority empowered to sanction the pension.
(ii) The applicant for pension/gratuity shall submit the last pay certificate and no demand certificate as soon as possible after the submission if the application for pension/gratuity. The Audit Officer shall not issue the pension gratuity payment order until these certificate have been received by him.
(iii) The authority competent to sanction shall record on the application after due consideration of the facts of the case his provisional recommendation stating whether the pension claimed should be admitted or not.
5.5. (i) The non-gazetted service of a Government servant in the application form shall be verified by the Head of Office concerned from official records for example service book or roll, pay bill or acquaintance rolls, etc.
(ii) If it be found impossible to verify the service otherwise a written statement of the applicant shall be taken on plain paper, and such collateral evidence as may be procurable shall be collected, for instance, certificates given by an officer to a subordinate on his leaving the office and the testimony of contemporary Government servants.
Note- The power to admit service verified under this clause may be exercised by all authorities empowered to sanction pension.
(iii) In cases where some portion of pensionable service was rendered in India but certificate of local verification of service was not recorded in the service book for any particular period, steps shall be taken to verify that service from available records, if any, such as personal files, gradation lists, pay bills acquaintance rolls, etc. Where none of the records are available, a written statement of the Government servant concerned shall be taken on a plain paper accompanied by the testimony of contemporary Government servants as in sub-rule (2) above. Such declaration should be placed on record in service book in lieu of local verification for service for that period.
(iv) Where no official evidence for example service book, in respect of service rendered in India is available, an Indemnity Bond shall be obtained from the person concerned for refund of any amount which might later on be found to have been paid to him in excess.
(v) The Head of Office/Department/Attached Department concerned shall then arrange with the application all the documents relied upon for the verification of non-gazetted service claimed in such manner that they can be conveniently consulted, and forward them together with the Government servant's service book or service roll as the case may be, and the statement in the second page of the pension application form duly completed up-to-date (and the last pay certificate, if necessary) through the authority empowered to sanction the pension to the Audit Officer.
5.6. On receipt of the pension papers the Audit Officer shall apply the requisite checks. If in cases in which the authority competent to sanction the pension has recorded its provisional recommendation under sub-rule (3) of rule 5.4., the Audit Officer finds that the claim is in order, he shall prepare the pension payment order forthwith in Form 4 (Pen.), but shall not issue it more than a fortnight in advance of the date on which the Government servant is due to retire, intimating the fact of issue to that authority. In other cases he shall certify as to the correctness of the calculations of service and pension, and return the pension papers to the authority competent to sanction the pension with a report on the claim for pension and the rules applicable to the case. He shall retain the last pay certificate unless the pension is to be paid in another circle of audit in which case he shall forward the certificate to the Audit Office of that circle along with a copy of the orders sanctioning the pension.
5.7 (i) A pension/gratuity which is certified by the Audit Officer shall be sanctioned by the authority competent to sanction the pension.
(ii) Orders sanctioning the pension may issue not more than one month in advance of the due date of retirement and the Audit Officer may issue the pension/pension payment order not more than a fortnight in advance thereof to the Treasury Officer who is to pay the pension/gratuity.
5.8. Date of commencement of pension-Apart from special orders, an ordinary pension is payable from the date on which the pensioner ceases to be in Government service. A gratuity (other than anticipatory gratuity) shall be paid in a single sum".
2. Admittedly, when pension case of the deceased professor could not finalized, he suffered from mental agony of distresses as well as disease of cancer and ultimately the poor man died in a helpless condition without getting the benefit of pension. It is reported that his wife also died within a short span of time and dead bodies of both of them recovered lying inside the improvised type of home for a period of at least two weeks. Subsequently, petitioner/complainant made hue and cry in the name of humanity by approaching different authority/forums but without any success. However, ultimately the Chief Secretary, Government of Sindh was persuaded to have a probe in the matter. As a result whereof Mr.Nisar Ahmad Siddiqui, the then Secretary Women Development Department, Government of Sindh, was appointed as Inquiry Officer on 22-12-2003 but he could not do the needful and in the meanwhile he was retired. Thereafter, Mr. Sabhigo Khan Jatoi, the then Secretary Agriculture, Government of Sindh, was appointed as Inquiry Officer with the direction to complete the inquiry within one month but he also failed to complete the same and kept the file with him for a long period. Meanwhile, the complainant approached this Court by submitting Miscellaneous Application pointing out the violation of fundamental rights of life and property under Article 9 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973 of the deceased Professor Ghazi Khan Jakhrani. On receipt of his complaint, Mr. Sadiq Hussain Bhatti, District and Sessions Judge, Malir, Karachi, was directed to conduct inquiry in the matter vide order, dated 26-4-2006. In the meantime the Government of Sindh through his Chief Secretary, realizing about taking of cognizance by this Court, accelerated efforts for getting a report from the Inquiry Officer, who ultimately submitted his report on 16-5-2006, obviously after the issuance of notice by this Court. Concluding para from the inquiry report is reproduced herein-below:
"Keeping in view the above examination, I am of the opinion that Prof. M.S.K. Lodhi, Principal Jamia Millia Govt. Degree College is mainly responsible for delaying the pension papers. Had he taken steps in right direction, the pension could have been finalized much earlier. He failed to take up with the appropriate authorities for getting up the non-gazetted period of late Ghazi Khan counted. He also failed for sending the final G.P. Fund papers to the competent authority in time, in case pension papers were not complete.
Prof. Ghazi Khan Jakhrani collected pension papers/G.P. Fund papers from the office of A.G. Sindh on 11-6-2003 and seems to have not been submitted to the Education Department for removing objections/observation of A.G. Sindh. As such some delay also occurred on his part."
3. In the meanwhile the learned District and Sessions Judge, Malir, also submitted inquiry report holding responsible for not finalizing the pension case of the late professor to a good number of Officers both from the Education Department of Sindh Government as well as from the office of Accountant General Sindh. Recommendations so made by him in the report are reproduced below:
(i) Mr. Muzaffar Jamal Assistant Account Officer A.G. Sindh Pay fixation section, was responsible on account of raising irrelevant/illegal observation and Mr. Nadeem Iftikhar Assistant Account Officer A.G. Sindh, Karachi, is also responsible on the ground that instead of calling clarification from Secretary Education handed over the observation papers to ailing Professor Ghazi Khan Jakhrani (late). Both these officials of A.G. Sindh at the time of his final payment have come in the way of release of his legal dues and they also played major role in non-payment of his legal dues.
(ii) Messrs Dr. Mujeeb Feroze and Haroon Rasheed, District Education Officers Colleges, were also equally responsible for delaying the pension papers, on one pretext or the other, as at that time they were posted as D.O. Education Colleges.
(iii) Professor Raees Alvi EDO Higher Karachi and Messrs Muhammad Shareef Baloch, Nazar Hussain Mahar and Ghulam Ali Pasha, Secretaries Education, Government of Sindh, who at the time were on the said posts, were also responsible on account of not referring the matter to the Pension Cases Disposal Committee and by not taking any departmental action against their subordinates on submission of pension papers very late after the expiry of three years.
4. It may be noted that it is not only the case of late Prof. Ghazi and his wife who had died allegedly due to starvation as they had no financial resources to feed themselves but there are a large number of identical case of the retired government officers/officials as well as widows and their children which are being reported from time to time in the media. Predecessors of deceased government servants have to wait for a long period to get cleared their pension papers. It is also an admitted fact all over the country the offices of Accountants General usually raise baseless, frivolous and technical objections for causing delay in finalizing the pension case with ulterior motives, of course, known to them best. However, when this case was taken up, we were informed that in the month of January, 2006, there were several pension cases pending in the office of Accountant General, Sindh, and the majority of them, have been cleared and on the last date of hearing, it was pointed out by Mr. Fateh Muhammad Qureshi, Deputy Accountant General that about 100 cases of pension were still pending for clearance. He was directed to finalize these cases without any further delay. Today, he has made a categorical statement before the Court that all such cases have been cleared. Mr. Zulifikar Ali Kadri, Accountant General, Sindh, also appeared and stated that following measures have been adopted for disposal of pension and G.P. Fund cases expeditiously in future:--
INITIATIVE FOR SPEEDY DISPOSAL OF PENSION AND G.P. FUND CASES
The forum of Khuli Katchery (Open Court), is held on every Friday, to provide instant redressal to the complainants. The AG himself addresses the grievances of Pension and G.P. Fund subscribers and provide on the spot remedy. About 118 Pension and G.P. Fund cases have been disposed of during the period from December, 2004 to 12th May, 2006.
Letters to all the Heads of the Departments were written for submission of pension cases in this office six months before retirement of expected retirees as per paras. 5.1 to 5.9 of the Pension Liberalized Rules 1964 and Presidential Order (F/C).
Daily monitoring of Pension cases by raising the level of responsibility at the level of Deputy Accountant General/Additional Accountant General.
Letters were written to all the Departments to appoint focal persons to co-ordinate with A.G. Sindh for speedy disposal of Pension and G.P. Fund cases, but a slow response has been received from the Departments.
FUTURE ACTION PLAN
As a first instance data collection of all the expected retirees for the years, 2006 and 2007, has been made by this office to expeditiously process the Pension and GPF cases of expected retirees of the years, 2006 and 2007, through computerized system of Pension and GPF cases modules to be installed in this office in near future.
Pensioner's Directory
In order to facilitate pensioner, pensions directory in respect of all the District of the Province have been complied.
As an initiative the list of employees retiring up to December, 2007 has been prepared.
The executive departments are being pursued vigorously to process the cases in time and submit cases complete in all respects, with all required documents, and to interact till the finalization of cases."
5. According to him, the above procedure if adhered to would facilitate and would be beneficial for early disposal of the pension cases. He has also assured that in future no delay would be caused in clearing the pension cases.
6. On the last date of hearing, we had directed the learned Additional Advocate General, Sindh, to convene a meeting with the Chief Secretary, Sindh, with a view to ascertain that what action has been initiated against the Officers of the Provincial Government who were responsible for causing delay of pension case of late Prof. Ghazi Today. He has placed on record a letter, dated 17-5-2006, the perusal whereof indicates that Mr. M. S.K. Lodhi, Principal, Jamia Millia Government Degree College, Malir, Karachi, being prima facie responsible for the delay in disposal of the finalization of the pension case, has been placed under suspension vide order, dated 17-5-2006 and he has also been served with show-cause notice under the Removal from Service (Special Powers) Sindh Ordinance, 2000. Similarly, Accountant General had stated that he has taken steps for taking action according to the rules against the delinquent officers/officials of his department responsible for causing delay and the progress in this behalf shall be made soon.
7. It is pathetic condition that Government servants, after having served for a considerable long period during which they give their blood and sweat to the department had to die in a miserable condition on account of nonpayment of pension/pensionary benefits etc. The responsibility, of course, can be fixed upon the persons who were directly responsible for the same but at the same time we are of the opinion that it is an overall problem mostly in every department, where public functionaries failed to play their due role even in accordance with law. Resultantly, good governance is suffering badly. Thus everyone who is responsible in any manner in delaying the case of such retired officers/official or widows or orphan children for the recovery of pension/gratuity and G.P. Fund has to be penalized. As their such lethargic action is in violation of Articles 9 and 14 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973. Admittedly, it is against the dignity of a human being that he has to die in miserable condition and for about three years no action has been taken by the concerned quarters in finalizing the pension case and now when the matter came up before the Court, for the first time, they are moving in different directions just to show their efficiency and to clear their position before the Court. Such conduct on their behalf is highly condemnable and cannot be encouraged in any manner.
8. We, therefore, direct that all the Government Departments, Agencies and Officers deployed to serve the general public within the limit by the Constitution as well as by the law shall not cause unnecessary hurdle or delay in finalizing the payment of pensionary/retirement benefits cases in future and violation of these directions shall amount to criminal negligence and dereliction of the duty assigned to them. Thus having noticed such miserable condition prevailing in the department particularly relating to the payment of the pension to retired Government servants or widows or orphan children, we direct all the Chief Secretaries of the Provincial Governments as well as the Accountant Generals and the Accountant General Pakistan Revenue, Islamabad, to ensure future strict adherence of the pension rules reproduced hereinabove and clear such cases within a period not IA more than two weeks without fail.
9. Similarly, the Chief Secretaries shall also issue instructions along with the copy of this judgment to the Heads of the Departments including responsible officers to initiate and finalize the pension cases well in advance from the date of retirement of Government servant without fail as required by rule 5-2 of Chapter V of the West Pakistan Civil Servants Pension Rules, 1963.
10. The object in issuance of above directions to the concerned authorities is only to make them realize their duties and responsibilities, which they owe to the retiring government servants.
11. We also direct that in future if there is any delay in the finalization of the pension benefits cases of the government servants, widows or orphan children and matter is brought to the notice of this Court, the head of the concerned department shall also be held liable for the contempt of the Court and shall be dealt with strictly in accordance with law.
12. Chief Secretary, Government of Sindh, is directed to comply with the observations made in the inquiry report submitted by the District and Sessions Judge, Malir, Karachi, and finalize proceedings against the persons whosoever, have been named therein according to relevant provisions of law expeditiously but not more than a period of six weeks. He shall submit a report in this regard to the Registrar of this Court for our perusal in Chambers.
13. The pension and other dues of late Professor Ghazi Khan Jakhrani shall be calculated and the amount shall be paid to his legal heirs, if any, otherwise, the Chief Secretary shall deal with the amount being unclaimed in accordance with law. A copy of final order passed against responsible persons, shall 'also be handed over to petitioner Haji Muhammad Ismail Memon, Advocate, resident of Jatoi, District Thatta by the Chief Secretary, Government of Sindh. We appreciate his efforts in surfacing the case of late Professor Ghazi Khan Jakhrani pointing out general miseries of retired Government officers, which they have faced in getting their pension.
The Criminal Miscellaneous Application is, disposed of accordingly.
M.H./M-163/SC Order accordingly.
Heads of the organisation bother the least while considering payment of commutation to the pensioners. At the University of Agriculture Peshawar more than 40 teaching and support staff are awaiting payment of commutation for one whole year.
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