Rs 462 crore to pay pension to transport staff: Government

Advocate general Vijay Narayan told a division bench of Justices S Manikumar and M Govindaraj on Tuesday that of the Rs 462 crore, a total of Rs 267 crore has been earmarked towards settlement of the statutory dues to the retired employees while the remaining Rs 194 crore has been allocated towards second and final settlement of accident claims compensation awarded by various courts and tribunals. The Rs 462 crore was sanctioned through a GO dated November 18 last and the amount would be disbursed within a week, the advocate general added. The bench on recording the submission posted the case for further hearing to November 24. 

Originally, R Mayandi Servai (82), a retired TNSTC employee based in Madurai, sent a post card to a division bench of Justices MV Muralidaran and N Seshasayee, when they were sitting at the vacation bench in Madurai on May 16 last. He claimed that the benefits due to him had not been settled even after 24 years after retirement and that there were 100s of similarly placed employees. 

Taking a serious note of the post card, Justice Muralidaran had directed the High Court registry to treat it as a suo motu PIL. Thereafter, the case was transferred to the principal seat of the High Court in Chennai and posted before the present bench.