Cuttack: The Orissa High Court Friday expressed displeasure over non-settlement of the pension account of an employee of Hirakud dam for last several years.
A division bench of Justice Sanju Panda and Justice SK Panigrahi directed the state government to withhold the salary of Finance and Law department secretaries if the pension account of Mithuram Bhoi is not settled before the next hearing of the case December 21.
As per the case proceedings, Bhoi had worked as a work-charge employee at Hirakud dam for 37 years before his retirement June 30, 1998. He had approached the Odisha Administrative Tribunal (OAT) in 2015 seeking pensions and other dues.
Accepting Bhoi’s plea, the OAT had directed the Water Resources department to consider Bhoi as a regular employee and provide him minimum salary, pensions and arrears.
Challenging the OAT order, the Water Resources department had filed a writ petition in the HC which, in its December 12, 2019 order, had directed Hirakud dam superintending engineer and chief engineer of the department to settle Bhoi’s pension account.
Bhoi had filed a contempt petition in the HC September 28 this year after steps were not taken to provide him the dues.
Taking up the case, the HC had directed the government counsel to submit the causes behind delay in the settlement Bhoi’s account.
The government counsel had informed the court that the process is being delayed as it requires the consent of Law and Finance departments.
