ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has directed the Employees’ Old-age Benefits Institution (EOBI) to ensure lifelong payment of pension to a person with disability, who was denied his father’s pension after the latter’s death.

The president said 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 deaths. He regretted that EOBI displayed grave insensitivity by neglecting the person and that too at a time when all his predecessors had passed away leaving him without any support.

Mohammad Shehzad, who has been visually impaired since birth, had filed a complaint with the federal ombudsman stating that his father Mohammad Afzal Zafar was a pensioner of EOBI and died in 2016.

The mother of the complainant had already passed away during the lifetime of his father. He had requested EOBI to grant him a “family pension” for life as a legal heir of his late father.

The EOBI, however, rejected his application by placing reliance on 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 Mr Shehzad was 44-year-old. The ombudsman closed further investigation of his complaint after which the complainant filed a representation before the president.

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.

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

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,” the president’s order said.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2024