The Supreme Court granted leave to proceed and provided interim relief in a fundamental rights petition filed by a teacher against the withholding of her pension by the Director General of Pensions, after her retirement The petitioner K.S.K. Jayasekera of Galle cited Education Ministry Secretary M.N.D. Bandara, Pensions Director General K.A. Thilakaratne, Provincial Public Service Secretary W. Weerakoon and the Attorney General as respondents.
Attorney J.C. Weliamuna appearing for the petitioner, in his submission, said that the petitioner had served as a teacher and then promoted to acting Zonal Director of Education, Galle. She had an unblemished service of 38 years in the public service. The petitioner was due to retire in February 2010 and she had submitted the relevant papers to the authorities. The petitioner stated that after her retirement she was informed that her pension and gratuity has been withheld as there was an inquiry pending.
State Counsel informed Court that there was an audit inquiry pending and that is the reason for withholding her pension.
The Bench comprising of acting Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake, Gamini Amaratunga and Ms. Chandra Ekanayake wanted to know why the authorities waited so long to bring in charges against the petitioner after she had forwarded papers for her retirement. They also said that there was a document stating that the petitioner had been given a clearance with no charges against her issued by the relevant authorities.
The Court granted leave to proceed and directed the Director General of Pensions to release 70% of her pension until final determination of this application. |
E-mail
