LARKANA: The Larkana circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday issued bailable warrants for district accounts officer in sum of Rs20,000 over his failure to release pension and other monetary benefits to a retired primary school teacher.

The bench comprising Justices Khadim Hussain Tunio and Shamsuddin Abbasi passed the order on a petition filed by the primary school teacher Ms Hajira Shahani.

The petitioner`s lawyer informed the court that she had opted for voluntary retirement from service on Aug 4, 2021, after having served 42 years in the education department. After completing all formalities, the application for the release of retirementbenefits to her was submitted to the district accounts office.

But the officer concerned was not only not releasing the pension but also withholding arrears of monthly salary which had been stopped from January 2014 to date. Besides, GP fund final payment commutations and monthly pension too were not being paid, he said.

He said the petitioner had time and again approached the respondents, particularly the DAO, but they were not releasing her dues on one pretext or the other. Despite lapse of two years since her retirement she had not received any pension benefits, said the lawyer.

He prayed the court to direct the DAO to release his petitioner`s pension at the earliest as it was her fundamental right.

He said the DAO had committed before the court on June 26 torelease the pension that he was ready to release pension to the petitioner if he was provided original service book and other documents by the district education officer concerned.

He said that on Aug 15 he informed the court that all objections had been cleared by the petitioner and her case had been forwarded to the DAO where it was lying unattended.

The bench then asked the DAO to submit a report on the release of pension benefits and in case of failure appear in person in the court. But on Sept 5, the respondent DAO did not appear in the court nor submit any report or intimate the court about the reason for his absence.

The court noted the officer`s absence with dismay and issued bailable warrants against him before adjourning the hearing to Sept 13.In another case, the bench issued bailable warrants against an executive engineer of Sindh Residence Project, Karachi, over his continued absence from court despite issuance of notices thrice earlier.

He was respondent in a petition filed by Ahmed Ali Sodhar who held him and other officials responsible for flooding in his village Faiz Mohammad Sodhar village, and inundation of farmland after main Ghar drain overtoppeditsbanksinWarahtaluka, Qambar-Shahdadkot district.

The respondent was first directed to appear in the court on July 26, 2023, then he was summoned on Aug 2, and was again asked to come on Aug 15 but he failed to appear on all three occasions or intimate the bench about his alibi, said the order.

The bench expressed dismay at the officer`s conduct andadjourned the petition to Oct 10 before issuing bailable warrants for him.

The petitioner said that during unprecedented rains the Ghar drain overflowed its banks inundating over 40 villages and crops standing on 10,000 acres due to negligence of the respondents.

He said that despite receiving huge amount for undertaking desilting and rehabilitation of the drain the work had not been started yet. If the required work was not carried out water would overflow again and damage nearby villages as well as agricultural land, he feared.

The petitioner prayed the court to direct the respondents to begin rehabilitation of the drain`s embankments from RD-50 to RD-80 and also furnish details of the funds allocated for the purpose and spent over the past five years.