The Delhi government on Wednesday told the Delhi High Court that it will accommodate MCD pensioners who have not been paid for over two years under its old age assistance scheme.
The pensioners have been deprived of their pension due to fund crunch in the three municipal corporations in Delhi.
Justice B.D. Ahmed and Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva were told by the Delhi government that it provided financial assistance to the elderly and disabled and that it can accommodate more people in the two categories.
The bench then asked the civic agencies to provide the government the list of names and other details of people not getting funds under the MCD schemes to know the eligibility criteria for the government schemes.
The bench was informed that there was a cap of 4.3 lakh people eligible to get pension. Of this, 384,545 have been remitted assistance till December last year.
The pension to the balance cases is withheld subject to verification of their living status, the exercise likely to be completed by January 31, said the government.
"So far total expenditure of Rs.456.96 crore have been incurred against the budget allocation of Rs.600 crore," said the Delhi government in its affidavit.
The bench asked the government to review the cap, and increase it if needed.
Under financial assistance for people with special needs, the Delhi government said assistance had been remitted to 56,672 people by December. The total expenditure incurred so far was Rs.82.13.
NGO Social Jurist through advocates Ashok Agarwal and Khagesh Jha said civic bodies had discontinued old-age pension for the last two years due to financial crunch. In the circumstance, the only option was that Delhi government should take upon the liability to pay the pension.
