Wafaqi Mohtasib stated in its decision of 09.03.2021 that it was unfair that the WAPDA Pension Directorate did not fully follow government policy and the widow did not benefit from recovery increases, while the Director (Pensions) WAPDA distributed instructions to all DISCOS/GENCOS/NTDC under SOP-2002 to allow all pensioners to increase the restored part of the pension. Wafaqi Mohtasib further stated in his decision that, in accordance with Pakistani government policy, retired/deceased workers will be granted restitution of the switched part after allowing the increase of the restored part of the pension from the date of retirement. The president rejected the complaint filed by LESCO against the Wafaqi Mohtasib decision and expressed dismay that the widows of the pensioners were deprived of benefits and adjustments made by the government over a period of time, the president`s office said. Similarly, the Accountant General of Pakistan Revenue, Lahore, and AGPR, Islamabad, had adopted this policy in light of the judgment of the Federal Court of Services of 05.01.2012, which was confirmed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in its judgment of 24.04.2012 according to which the families of retirees are also entitled to increases made from time to time on the restored part of the pension. After her husband`s death, the applicant was regularly granted a family pension, but at lower rates. The complainant stated that she received a monthly pension of Rs 21,928, whereas she should have almost doubled after 15 years after all the supplements provided from time to time by the Government had been taken into account. The Agency is therefore required to comply with the rules and regulations issued from time to time by the Department of Finance for pension applications. In the light of those facts, an instance of maladministration within the meaning of Article 2(2) of Presidential Decree No 1 of 1983 was found in the present case. ISLAMABAD: President Dr.
Arif Alvi on Friday confirmed Wafaqi Mohtasib`s decision to order Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) to return the converted portion of the pension to the widow of a deceased worker, as well as an increase in the restored portion of the pension from the date of retirement/death. In addition, the widows of deceased pensioners were not expressly excluded from that body, so that an instance of maladministration on the part of LESCO was established. According to the details of the case, the complainant`s late husband (Mukhtar Begum), an employee of LESCO, retired in April 2005 when he reached retirement age and died in December 2013. The President wrote in his ruling that the current law does not allow for tolerance of delay in maintaining prescribed representation, and the law also allows representation without a personal hearing of the parties on the basis of available records. The complainant felt hurt and turned to Wafaqi Mohtasib to remedy her complaint. He regretted that this should not have happened and said Pakistan should be a compassionate country. The President refused to represent LESCO on the grounds that the impugned Mohtasib order had been transmitted in March 2021 to the Agency, which had filed a complaint in July 2021, i.e. after 4 months, whereas the complaint should have been submitted within 30 days of the decision. “The representation is also rejected because it is incompetent and prescribed,” the president ordered.