Chennai: Terming as alarming the non-payment of terminal benefits and pension arrears to former staff and their families of Madras University to the tune of 95.44 crore, Madras high court directed the state and the university to take steps to settle the arrears.Relying on a report filed by the state on the total terminal and pension benefits payable from Apr 2015 to Sept 2025, Justice N Anand Venkatesh said, “It is clear from the above that a total of 87 teaching staff, 249 non-teaching staff, and 129 family pensioners are yet to be settled with the terminal benefits, which runs to the total tune of 95,44,21,085.“The above figures are quite alarming and the finance secretary of Tamil Nadu govt must necessarily come up with a solution to settle the entire pensionary benefits to the teaching staff, non-teaching staff, and family pensioners,” the judge said. The secretary, while filing a status report on an earlier occasion, took a stand that they would continue to extend their cooperation and guidance to ensure that there is timely disbursement of the pensionary dues. This commitment that was expressed before this court shall be translated into action by immediately allocating funds for settling the entire terminal benefits, the court added. The observations were made on a contempt of court petition.
