To,
*All Dear members of pensioner fraternity*
On my request, Shri MP Agnihotri ji, Chairman of our LSG has given a brief of all that took place yesterday in SC before the bench. It has been nothing more than endless repeat of the saying " too many a slip between the cup and the lip ". It was rather a test of patience of the Senior and Super Senior pensioners. A helpless state of affair to live in with and we can only pray to God to give better sense of empathy,wisdom and a humane consideration to those in whose wisdom lies our fate.
With fraternal regards,
Ranjan Dey Sarkar
General Secretary
10.12.2022
Dear Sirs,
As per the order dated 10th Nov 2022, our cases were listed on 07/12/2022 in Court no. 3 of the Supreme Court. On 7th Dec. the judges of the bench hearing our cases were engaged in a constitutional bench which continued up to 8th Dec. 2022, so our cases were listed on 9th Dec 2022. In the cause list of 9th Dec 2022, there were 56 items out which ours was the only item for final disposal at admission stage. The other cases were of such nature which generally do not take much time so it was expected that our turn would be coming by 12 noon. Since no other cases were shown either in the main cause list nor any supplementary list so it was expected that our cases would be heard. Next week starting from 12/12/2022 is declared by SC as the miscellaneous week, so there was a possibility that if arguments not completed on 9th , the cases may be kept on board and taken up on Monday. On the other hand, 9th Dec 2022 is not the day for hearings of Miscellaneous Matters like ours (our cases are listed on Non Miscellaneous Days when arguments are heard), so it was doubtful whether arguments would be allowed. Opinion of the advocates was that it all depends on the bench. If the bench considers hearing of our cases, arguments would be allowed. They made it clear that it is not sure whether the hearing would be allowed or not. Under such circumstances, it was thought appropriate to engage the Sr Advocate.
On 9th Dec 2022, court no. 3 came into session with a little change – Justice S Abdul Nazeer and Justice J B Pardiwala were in the bench. After the 'Mention' session, cause list items were taken up one by one. At about 11:35 AM our turn came. Justice Nazeer picked up the file and ordered to list the cases in the third week of Jan 2023. Our Sr Advocate Shri Nidhesh Gupta quickly requested for early hearing stating that 21000 out of 69000 pensioners are already expired. He reminded that our case was ordered by his Lordship to be listed on Wednesday the 7th Dec 2022, but for constitutional bench it has been shifted to 9th Dec 2022. Justice Nazeer repeated to list the case in third week of Jan 2023. Then, Shri Nidhesh Gupta insisted for listing the case in the second week if possible or in the third week but keeping it on top of board. Shri Gupta repeated his request to keep the cases on top of the board. Justice Nazeer stated that he would look in to the matter. In the meantime, Sr Advocate Madam Suri for Union of India also requested something which was not clearly heard. Thereafter some other cases were taken up (though as per the posted cause list no more cases were there, but perhaps would have been added later on). From LIC's side their Sr Advocate Shri Ranjit Kumar was present through videoconferencing. Sr Advocate Ms. Kiran Suri was present on behalf of UOI. Sr Advocate Madam Meenakshi Arora was also present in the court room.
Listing of our case on 9th Dec 2022 muddled the situation and confused us. If our SLPs were not to be taken up, those should not have been listed in the cause list. We were cautious to protect the interest of the pensioners and did our best. But, providence has not favoured us again. We are disappointed but not deterred from fight the case with full strength till we get justice.
With kind regards,
M P Agnihotri.
