KMC told to pay pensions to retired TMC employees for two years

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday directed the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) to pay pension to the retired employees of town municipal corporations (TMCs) for two years and ordered that in the meantime, the TMCs shall make their own mechanism for payment of pension to their retired employees.

The direction came on petitions of retired local bodies employees of the TMCs of Baldia Town, Mauripur and SITE. The petitioners submitted that they were retired employees of the TMCs but were not being provided pensionary benefits. The court directed the TMCs to submit details of their retired employees to the local government secretary.

The court had on a previous hearing directed the chief secretary to assist it in pensionary matters pertaining to local bodies’ employees, explaining if money was being paid to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and TMCs and how it was possible that these entities had no funds for the payment of pensions.

Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab submitted that he had a meeting with the chief secretary over the issue and informed the SHC that the KMC was not responsible for the payment of pensionary benefits to the retired TMC employees. He said that every town should make mechanism for thepayment of pensionary benefits to its retired employees.

He said the KMC had proposed payment of pensionary benefits to the retired TMC employees for two years and it would keep paying them till it received funds from the provincial finance department.

The local government secretary submitted that tge Sindh government released funds to the KMC for the payment of pensions and the KMC had a mechanism for the payment of pensions to its retired employees.

A division bench of the high court headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha after hearing the mayor and government officials directed the KMC to pay pensionary benefits to the retired TMC employees for two years and in the meantime, the TMCs shall make their own mechanism for the payment of pensionary benefits to their employees.