Plea to amend pension rules for village assistants

Vacation judge Justice N Sathishkumar, before whom a petition from S Eliammal wife of M Chakkarabani, who died as a village assistant in Enathavadi in Tiruvannamalai district, came up, adjourned the matter for further hearing to Monday.

The petitioner had submitted that her husband died while in service on February 16, 2011, following which she was paid only the retirement benefits but not the DCRG.

Narrating the representations and correspondence, which she made to the authorities regarding the DCRG, she said since rule 8 & 9 of the Tamil Nadu Village Assistants’ Pension Rules 1995 is silent on the grant of payment of DCRG in respect of village assistants, the Accountant General is unable to pass any orders for DCRG payment to those families who are legally entitled to it.

Pointing out that the Accountant General had already written a letter on March 28, 2017, to the government of Tamil Nadu to make necessary amendments to the Pension Rules pertaining to village assistants, the petitioner submitted that unless the government makes amendments to the rules, the families of the deceased village assistants won’t get their legally entitled DCRG amounts.