ISLAMABAD, Aug 22 (APP): President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday directed the Employees’ Old Age Benefits Institution (EOBI) to ensure lifetime payment of pension to Muhammad Shehzad, a person with visual disability as the facility was earlier denied to him following his father’s death.

The president said that the person with disability (PWD) could not be left in a merciless situation by the state, given the fact that his elders were deceased and were receiving pension before their death. He regretted that EOBI displayed grave insensitivity by neglecting a PWD and that too at a time when all his predecessors had passed away leaving him without any support.

Muhammad Shehzad (the complainant), who was blind by birth, had filed a complaint with the Wafaqi Mohtasib, stating that his father, Muhammad Afzal Zafar, was an Old Age Pensioner of EOBI and died on December 20, 2016. The complainant’s mother had passed away even before his father. So, he requested EOBI to grant him a “family pension” for life as a “disabled legal heir” of his late father.

The EOBI, however, rejected his application citing Section 22B (3) (i) of the EOB Act, 1976, which provides that only male minors under 18 years of age are eligible for a family pension, whereas Shehzad was 44 years old. The Mohtasib closed further investigation of his complaint, after which, Muhammad Shehzad filed a representation before the President of Pakistan.

The president accepted the complainant’s representation and emphasised that keeping in view the letter and spirit of the Constitution of Pakistan, particularly Articles 9 and 25, a Person with Disability could not be deprived of such a pension, since he deserved to be treated on a much better footing and placed in a more deserving category than any other recipient of pension in the country presently.

He also endorsed Mohtasib’s recommendation that EOBI’s law in this regard should be reviewed and brought in line with the federal policy.

While accepting Muhammad Shehzad’s representation, the president directed EOBI to ensure payment of some reasonable pension/stipend, which should not be less than the pension which the complainant’s deceased father was receiving at the time immediately preceding his death.

“This pension should be paid to the petitioner out of the existing funds of EOBI”, held the president.