JOSE JACOB Vs. STATE OF KERALA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Introduction:

(2.) MICROCOSMICALLY stated, numerous petitioners, in the autumn of their lives, have not been paid their pension. The employer, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (referred to as 'the Corporation'), proffers the reason of financial constraints faced by it on account of the burden imposed on it by the State, through one measure or another, in the name of socio -economic obligations required to be fulfilled by an instrumentality of the State - the introduction of statutory pension being one such measure. The State, in turn, states that it has no obligation to bail out the Corporation, which has to fend for itself, lest the other socio -economic measures of the State should suffer. The result: Deaths - at least going by the media reports - of exhausted, exasperated, and desperate destitutes, called retired employees. Before undertaking macrocosmic adjudication of the issue, it is meat to make a reference to a study report on longevity and the economic ramifications on the constricted coffers of the nations, more particularly the emerging economies.

(3.) ONE eighth (1/8) of the World's Elderly Population lives in India. Most of them will never retire in the usual sense of the term and will continue to work as long as physically possible, inevitably though the disability to produce and earn will decline with age. The absence of savings will result in sharp decline in living standards, and for many it can mean destitution. Therefore, this is the challenge of old age income security in India. (National Policy for Senior Citizens, March 2011, Government of India)