President Dr. Arif Alvi on Tuesday directed the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) to clear all pending pension arrears of a widow, the state-owned news agency APP reported.
The directive was issued on the complaint of Ayesha Arif, widow of Arif Mehmood, against the order of Wafaqi Mohtaisb on 25 November 2020 in which it had upheld EOBI’s decision of granting pension payments of only six months arrears against her claim made on 6 August 2019.
However, the President overruled the disputed order of the Wafaqi Mohtasib and directed the institution to pay the arrears since the death of her husband in 2017.
An order from the President’s Secretariat (Public) sought a compliance report on the case within 30 days of the receipt of the said order.
The President noted that Section 22B of the Act 1976, dealt with survivors’ pension, under which the surviving spouse became entitled to a pension.
“It nowhere inhibits or restricts the entitlement as in Section 22 (3) of the Act. Since Section 22B deals exclusively with Survivors’ pension, it operates independently,” the finding said.
As a general rule applicable to Muslims on the death of a Muslim, the right to receive the pension is transferred to the Muslim heir without any intervention.
“Thus in view of the provisions of Section 22B of the Employees’ old Age Benefits Act, 1976 and general principles, it is obvious that the complainant is entitled to pension from the date of the death of her husband. The learned Mohtasib omitted to take note of this important aspect of the case and turned down the complainant’s grievance on the untenable basis,” it added.
