Recently the news of Novy Kapadia came out, who is a very renowned football commentator and a former Professor at the University of Delhi, about his battle for the pension. He has been suffering from an autoimmune disorder and is now bed-ridden, but even in this painful condition, he is fighting for his basic right to avail pension from an organization where he has served for almost forty years. But he is not alone, as around 300 retired teaching and non-teaching staff is also facing the same problem.
The same issue came in light for Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) but the cause behind the delay was because of the inadequate funds provided by UGC, whereas in DU, the delay is of bureaucratic nature. For availing pension, the file moves from the finance officer to dean of colleges, pro-vice-chancellor and then the vice-chancellor.
Kiran Rai who was a political science professor at Daulat Ram College got retired in 2015 and has not yet started to receive her pension. Due to age and illness, she is unable to move much, and her husband who is more than 70 years old has been coming to the university regularly to sort out the matter, for years now. He also complained that almost 500 files that need clearance for pension are there in the Finance Office but there is no one to attend them.
Another such case is of a former professor from the Hindi Department, Dr. Rajendra Gupta who retired two years ago and is still going places to get his pension.
After Kapadia’s case, the university members and executive council have picked up on this issue and questioned the vice-chancellor, Mr. Yogesh Tyagi because Kapadia is genuinely in the need of money right now, and this money is rightfully his and not of the University’s.
