Construction Workers Can’t Be Deprived Of Right Of Pension Merely Due To Hyper-Technical Issues: Delhi High Court

The right of pension of construction workers cannot be deprived of merely due to hyper-technical issues or requirements such as production of original MR Slips or serial number of the notary records, the Delhi High Court has recently observed.

Noting that a large number of construction workers are either illiterate or even semi-illiterate and hail from rural background, Justice Prathiba M Singh added that their pension benefit application must be processed without any delay.

The court noted that entry 372 of the Delhi (Right of Citizen to Time Bound Delivery of Services) Act, 2011, specifies 30 days as the period during which the pension application has to be processed. However, it added, that the SOP of the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Board stipulates disposal of such application made by construction workers within 60 days.

“Thus, it is clear that once a pension benefit application is made by the construction worker, bearing in mind the financial status of such workers, the said application ought to be processed without any delay,” the court said.

The observations were made while granting relief to a construction worker who had applied to the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board for release of her pension as per Rule 372 but the pension benefits were not released.

It was her case that despite an order of a coordinate bench directing expeditious processing of applications for grant and release of pensionary benefits by the Board, she and other beneficiaries received deficiency letters in respect of their pension applications.

The application for pension of the petitioner was rejected on the ground that she was not a member of the Board on the date of superannuation.

Earlier, a writ petition was preferred by the construction worker which was disposed of by the single judge on April 18 last year with a direction on the Board to pass appropriate orders with regard to her claim for pensionary benefits.

Since her application was not decided despite the order, she filed an application seeking recall of the order which was disposed of with the direction to the Board to decide her case within two weeks.

The Board thus issued a second rejection letter to the petitioner. A fresh petition was then moved for sanction and release of her pension.

Disposing of the plea, Justice Singh noted that the construction worker was registered with the Board since September, 2009, and that at the time of superannuation, she had worked as a building and other construction worker for more than one year. It was also noted that she had paid her contribution for the entire period.

“The fact that the period of contribution extended by beyond her retirement or that the renewal of membership was done after the age of superannuation cannot lead to the denial of pensionary benefits,” the court said.

The court thus directed that the applicable pension to the construction worker shall be disbursed to her with an interest at the rate of 6% with effect from February 06, 2022. The court ordered that the amount shall be disbursed by July 01.

“Considering the nature of this case and due to the fact that the Petitioner has had to undergo a second round of litigation, that too after exercising the statutory appeal, and was denied her rightful pension for a considerably long period, costs of Rs. 25000/- are awarded to the Petitioner. The said costs shall be paid by the Board to the Petitioner within eight weeks. The petition along with all pending applications, if any, is disposed of in the above terms,” the court said.

Case Title: BADAM VERVA v. DELHI BUILDING AND OTHER CONSTRUCTION WORKERS WELFARE BOARD & ANR.

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Del) 520

Click Here To Read Order