The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Monday issued notice to chief secretary Jharkhand, Sukhdeo Singh, and secretary ministry of social justice and empowerment R. Subrahmanyam taking suo motu cognisance of media report of delay and denial of pension and diversion of funds meant for senior citizens, widows and specially abled.

The commission has given six weeks to both to submit a detailed report in the matter. Significantly, The Telegraph had highlighted the issue in its edition on January 31, 2021 titled “Jharkhand pension void”.

The notice of the commission issued by three members of NHRC comprising Justice P.C. Pant, Jyotika Kalra and Dnyaneshwar Manohar Mulay has observed that it appears the funds became a bone of contention between the Union government and the Jharkhand government for a considerable period resulting in denial or delayed payment of financial assistance under various schemes, including the old age pension and Covid relief payments under the Pradhan Mantri Gharib Kalyan Yojana (PMGKY) in Jharkhand.

The notice states that as per reports, the denial and delayed payment took place since July 2020, amid Covid pandemic, which disrupted the livelihood of lakhs of people across the country, the Jharkhand government stopped distribution of pensions to nearly 10 lakh eligible widows, senior citizens and the specially abled citizen across the State.

“The contents of it (media reports), if true, raise a serious issue of human rights violation,” the commission notice observes and expressed concern how the money received from the Centre under one head was reportedly utilised for another head, resulting thereby in denial of basic need for survival of the poor people. It has also expressed concern over a reported huge gap between the beneficiaries on the roll and those actually getting the pension under various categories.

Pensioners protest at Latehar in January against denial and delay of pensions. Shabbir Hussain

The notice informed that the media report highlighted the case study of 62-year old small farmer, with a meagre income, who had to borrow more than Rs 10,000 from the relatives to pay his hospital bills when his leg was fractured in Ukamar village in Latehar district in July, 2020. But for five months after his fracture, he did not receive any pension money of Rs 1,000 per month, as per his entitlement under a central government scheme for senior citizens.

“The media report has claimed that this is not just one case of non-payment of financial assistance to the needy as per the Government scheme. Reportedly, the direct transfer of Rs 1,000 in two instalments to the three crore senior citizens, widows and people with disability in the country, had to be paid in addition to their regular pension. But, as reportedly claimed by an official, due to non-receipt of this budgetary allocation for the Covid-19 scheme from the centre until the end of the year, the state government was forced to use its existing pension funds for the Covid relief payments,” the notice states.

Reportedly, all the eligible persons are not being paid the pension despite protest by the people for long. There is a huge gap of about 64 per cent between the beneficiaries on the rolls and the ones who are actually getting the pension under different categories.