HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued a show-cause notice to provincial secretary of local government and ordered Accountant General (AG) of Sindh to stop payment of salary to the officer till further orders.

A division bench comprising Justices Zafar Ahmad Rajput and Amjad Ali Bohio passed the order on two identical joint petitions filed by 38 pensioners of Hyderabad Development Authority (HDA) and 29 others of their colleagues about delays and stoppage of pension payment to the retirees.

The court directed director general of HDA, who was present in the court, to submit details measures taken by the officer for payment of pension and retirement benefits to pensioners and other retired employees of HDA, and of payments made to contractors and other expenditures made by the authority.

The court said this order should be communicated to AG Sindh “who shall submit a compliance report [of its order] through additional registrar”.

The court noted that despite directives, the LG secretary did not appear in the court and no comprehensive report was submitted regarding queries raised by the bench in its Sept 10 order.

Though Bux Ali Mahar, special secretary for housing and town planning, had appeared at the behest of the LG secretary with his authority letter but he was unable to assist the court regarding investments made by HDA and the amount deducted from general provident (GP) fund and pension fund of employees.

The court noted that grievances of HDA’s retired employees over payment of pension benefits had not been redressed by the officials concerned and despite issuance of clear directives the LG secretary had failed to appear in court.

Earlier, the court had ordered attachment of six bank accounts of HDA having up to Rs20 million as the petitioners had contended that HDA Employees Pension Fund and other grants received by the authority from government for payment of pensionary benefits to retired employees had been kept in different accounts and because of that the retired employees were not being paid pension monthly.

HD’s DG had submitted a list of bank accounts of the authority under the court’s directive.

The petitioners said that they were getting pensions in time after retirement but it started getting delayed first and suddenly, the payment stopped in September 2023 and around six month’s pension remained unpaid.

They said that they were facing severe financial crisis. If the situation remained unchanged, it would not only jeopardise the petitioners’ well-being but would also hamper their ability to take care of their families.

They said that billions of rupees of the authority were recoverable in fees from various private builders and developers who obtained approvals from HDA for launching their housing schemes and projects.

They said that HDA had invested HDA Employees Pension Fund in National Savings Centre, Soneri Bank Defence Plaza, ABL Civic Centre, ABL Saddar, MCB Resham Gali Branch etc. but they feared for safety and security of “HDA Employees’ Pension Fund” and its mismanagement or misappropriation by the respondents.

They requested the court to direct the respondents to release monthly pension to the petitioners along with arrears immediately and consistently and also pay pensionary benefits.

The court fixed hearing of the case for Oct 1.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2024