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Don’t deduct from relief fund without pensioners’ consent: Kerala HC
Justice Devan Ramachandran issued the order while hearing a plea of pensioners M Kesavan Nair and EG Rajan which questioned the deduction of a portion of their pension towards the CM’s relief fund under the ‘vaccine challenge’ without their consent
The Kerala high court on Tuesday ordered that no amount be deducted from the pension of retired employees for the CM’s relief fund without their consent, and directed the Kerala state electricity board (KSEB) to refund the deducted amount to pensioners.
Justice Devan Ramachandran issued the order while hearing a plea of pensioners M Kesavan Nair and EG Rajan which questioned the deduction of a portion of their pension towards the CM’s relief fund under the ‘vaccine challenge’ without their consent or knowledge.
The petitioners said they wanted the court to set aside the decision of the KSEB and reimburse amount deducted from their pensions.
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The KSEB argued that it was not a forcible deduction and a decision was arrived at after consulting with the association of pensioners.
“The KSEB or the state had no case that employees, serving or retired, were under any legally sanctioned obligation to suffer any remittance under the vaccine challenge. The deduction without consent or volition is not allowed,” the court ruled.
The government had started a ‘vaccine challenge’ three months ago after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the state will have to foot the vaccine bill of 18-45 age group people and Kerala was the first state to oppose it. Later, the government started accepting contributions from the public under the ‘vaccine challenge’. The PM later tweaked the policy and the Centre decided to procure vaccines for this age group as well.
