The eligibility for pension is governed by Rule 273 and Section 14(2) of the Act, and the membership duration requirement is an inclusionary criterion, not an exclusionary one.

JUDGMENT

Prathiba M. Singh, J. (Oral)--This hearing has been done through hybrid mode.

Background

2. In the present case, this Court is concerned with the issue of pension in respect of the Petitioner who is a building and construction worker. The Petitioner had applied to the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (hereinafter `the Board') for release of pension as per Rule 273 of the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Rules, 2002 (hereinafter `the Rules').

3. Vide order dated 20th May, 2020 in W.P.(C) 3001/2020 titled Jai Pal & Ors. v. Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board, a ld. Single Judge of this Court had directed processing of applications, which were pending with the Board for release of pensionary benefits and passed the following order:

"10. At this stage, I may note that the learned counsel for the respondent no.1 has submitted that the delay in processing of the files is also taking place because of lack of adequate staff/officers in the respondent no.1.

11. Keeping in view that the claim in the present petition is for the lowest strata of the society who are most affected by Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown, it is hoped that the respondent no.2 shall ensure that adequate staff/officers are provided to the respondent no.1 to carry out the process of verification of the pending applications as also the new applications that would be received by it for grant of the benefits under the Scheme announced for the workers by the respondent no.2, as expeditiously as possible. For this purpose, the Delhi State Legal Services Authority is also requested to provide necessary assistance to the workers as also to the respondent no.1 in the process of verification."

4. After the said order was passed directing the expeditious processing of applications for grant and release of pensionary benefits by the Board, many beneficiaries received deficiency letters in respect of their pension applications. Thereafter, vide order dated 30th April, 2021, this Court disposed of Jai Pal (supra), with further direction to the Board to process other pending claims in a time bound manner. The said order dated 30th April, 2021 is extracted as under:

"2. The present petition was initially filed by four Petitioners praying for payment of pension and relief amounts which were allocated to construction workers. This Court had, vide a detailed order dated 22nd May, 2020, extended this writ petition to 118 workers (one of whom was a Petitioner) and hence, 117 further construction workers.

3. The status as on today, as per the status report filed by the Delhi Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (hereinafter, "Board"), is that most of the claims in the list which were submitted have been resolved. The fact that the Petitioners' claims have also been resolved is not disputed.

4. Ld. counsel for the Respondents has taken the Court through the latest status of the 118 workmen, annexed as Annexure-1 to the status report filed on 30th November, 2020. A perusal of the said report reveals that most of the workers have already received their respective pensions and claims. The number of unresolved applications are still quite a few in number. As per the status report, some applications are unresolved as there are either deficiency letters which have been issued or some of the files are still under process.

5. Insofar as the workers to whom the deficiency letters have been issued are concerned, the workers would respond to the said deficiency letters. Upon receiving the response, the claim/pension amounts shall be processed, in accordance with the applicable laws, within a period of three months from the receipt of the response.

6. Insofar as the workers whose applications are under process are concerned, their applications shall be processed within a period of two months.

7. Ms. Shyel Trehan, ld. counsel for the Petitioners submits