Published Apr 09, 2026 | 2:26 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 09, 2026 | 2:26 PM
Representational image. Credit: iStock
Synopsis: The Telangana government, after repeated High Court admonitions, has begun paying delayed retirement. The High Court’s final deadline has forced the state government to begin paying retirement benefits long denied to thousands of employees. Despite partial compliance, most retirees still await dues, highlighting systemic neglect. Elderly former public servants, already burdened by age and hardship, face added indignity from delayed pensions—turning a legal issue into a humanitarian crisis of compassion and governance.
After repeated admonitions from the High Court and the imposition of a final deadline, the Telangana state government has at last begun to take steps to pay the retirement benefits that are rightfully due to retired employees.
Reports suggest that the order issued on March 23 by High Court judge Justice Namavarapu Rajeshwar Rao—directing that retirement benefits be paid to employees who retired in the last two years by April 9—is now being implemented.
Advocate C. R. Sukumar, who represented several hundred petitioners among the thousands of employees who approached the High Court with their grievance, announced on Wednesday that some of his clients have received these benefits from the government.
However, the fact that government employees have had to wait for two years to receive facilities that should be granted immediately upon retirement; that they had to approach the courts to secure what is rightfully theirs; that the government disregarded court orders mandating payment and thereby committed contempt of court; that the High Court, after hearing these petitions, had to impose a final deadline; and that even within this deadline, the government is paying only those who approached the court and not all eligible retirees—raises a fundamental question: is our system functioning properly, humanely, and civilly at all?
This is not merely an issue concerning employees, courts, judgments, and retirement benefits. At its core, it concerns people who have spent their entire lives—three to four decades—in government service and public service, and who have now entered retired life. In other words, it concerns elderly individuals who are physically weakened, whose energies are depleted, and who require support.
In that sense, this is a social and humanitarian problem that goes beyond employees, benefits, and governmental neglect. It is about whether our responses toward fellow human beings retain any humanity, compassion, or empathy.
Old age, for anyone, is a curse. Though it is an inevitable phase in every human life, prevailing social values ensure that the present generation often looks down upon the elderly as relics of the past, treating them with disregard and even contempt. The elderly suffer not only from age-related health problems but also from constant neglect and indifference from others.
Those who once managed families with authority and efficiency now find themselves compelled to stretch out their hands before others due to a lack of resources. Even the others who grew up on their toil often hesitate to spare a few morsels or speak a kind word.
Outside the home, there are inadequate transport facilities, insufficient hospitals, and little social support. Buildings without lifts, unscalable staircases, and the absence of elderly-friendly infrastructure trap them in a web of hardships.
It is no exaggeration to say that more than ninety percent of them receive not even the minimum human touch, let alone a just return for a lifetime of service to families, friends, and society.
While such neglect of the elderly prevails in society at large, the problems of those who retired from government service take on another dimension.
At the time of retirement, they are entitled to gratuity, provident fund, commutation, earned leave encashment, surrendered leave, group insurance, medical reimbursement, and other retirement benefits, along with a monthly pension in their post-retirement life. While their financial position may appear somewhat better, in other respects their condition is often more miserable. The little regard they receive is largely dependent on their income.
The more prosperous their children are, the less attention they tend to receive, and the greater the pressure exerted on their income.
For elderly individuals already burdened with so many difficulties—and particularly for those who retired from government service—the delay in receiving retirement benefits, the postponement in fixing pensions, irregular pension payments, and the need to run from office to office and around treasuries for these entitlements only add to their hardships.
It appears that the Telangana government is intent on creating further difficulties for these senior citizens who are already caught in a web of problems.
There are no official figures on how many employees have retired since the Congress came to power in Telangana in December 2023. A commonly cited estimate places the total number of retirees at around 15,000.
In reality, over these 2.4 years, the number of Telangana state government employees who retired may be between 20,000 and 22,000. In 2024 alone, 7,995 employees are said to have retired, and in the following year, nearly ten thousand more. Rough estimates suggest that 800 to 1,000 employees retire every month.
Since the previous government increased the retirement age to 61 years in 2021, the number of retirees between 2021 and 2023 had dropped significantly. From 2024 onward, it has been rising again. Taking all these figures together, it can be said that more than twenty thousand employees have retired since the Congress assumed office.
Of these, it is said that only about 30 percent received their retirement benefits within one or two months, while 60 to 80 percent have seen no progress even after months or years, and the remaining cases are entangled in court disputes.
Retired employees recount how they have had to make endless rounds of offices for months and years just to have their benefits calculated and released in installments. Moreover, this problem of delayed retirement benefits did not begin with the current Congress government; it existed under the previous regime as well.
There are employees who retired as far back as 2017 and have yet to receive their dues. However, since the present government came to power, the problem has become more widespread and more complex.
Among those who have not received their benefits even after months and years, 3,600 individuals approached the courts seeking their rightful and legally due entitlements. Several hundred writ petitions were filed on their behalf. About a year ago, the High Court directed that all their dues be paid within six to eight weeks.
The government ignored this order. More than six hundred contempt petitions were then filed against the government for non-compliance. Since procrastination appears to be the only skill the government has mastered, it dragged these petitions for six to seven months through repeated adjournments.
Finally, on March 23, the judge declared that the government’s Finance Secretary would have to appear before the court.
On that day, the state Finance Secretary, Sandeep Kumar Sultania, submitted before the High Court that dues remained to be paid to 3,656 individuals, of whom 1,056 had been paid, leaving 2,600 still unpaid.
However, the High Court order itself notes that these figures were “as per reports provided by his subordinates.” In other words, this was not a verified or factual figure but merely one relayed by the officer based on subordinate reports.
Responsibility, therefore, has been conveniently shifted onto these “subordinate officials.” This is clearly a rough and unreliable estimate. The total number of retirees is certainly not 3,656—it is not even a quarter of that figure.
Most likely, it represents only those who approached the High Court complaining about non-payment of benefits. What, then, is the fate of those who did not file complaints?
As per procedure, it is the government’s duty—and basic decency—to settle and pay all dues to an employee either on the last day of service or within three to four weeks thereafter.
But except for those who enjoy the backing of higher officials or political leaders, no one receives such courtesy. When 800 to 1,000 employees retire every month, even a few hundred do not receive their dues on time.
A Supreme Court judgment once directed that all retirement benefits must be paid within six months, but no government follows this. There are enormous delays even in finalising accounts, and often one component is released while another is withheld, leaving retired employees in distress.
It is estimated that at least 80 retired employees have died in the past two years without receiving their retirement benefits.
The government cites several reasons—financial constraints, lack of adequate funds, the need to make payments in sequence, and the growing burden of pensions and retirement benefits. But none of these explanations is entirely true.
In fact, it was the rulers themselves who introduced the new pension scheme over the past two decades precisely to reduce this burden. In any case, the total amount payable as retirement benefits may not exceed ₹10,000 crore—roughly three percent of the budget. It should not be so difficult for the government to mobilize such resources.
An old Telugu saying advises: “Strike on the back if you must, but not on the stomach.” The state has never even imagined refraining from striking backs. There is also the proverb: “If the king wills, there is no dearth of blows.” The illustrious Telangana government is, in any case, constantly beating countless backs across the state. It now seems intent on striking the stomach as well. But must it do so—without even a trace of compassion—upon the elderly too?
