KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday ordered immediate payment of group insurance claims of the retired employees of the provincial government.
A two-judge bench of the high court, headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar, blasted the State Life Insurance Corporation of Pakistan for keeping claims pending for a long time while hearing a case of delay in payment of insurance of 500,000 retired employees of Sindh.
“Sitting over Rs2.5 billion in funds, the insurance company keeping claims pending. A criminal case may be filed against them,” the bench remarked.
The court directed the government to amend the law, like other provinces, for immediate payment of the group insurance amount.
Sindh finance secretary informed the court claims of families of 5,000 deceased employees have also been kept pending.
The bench directed for making the verification procedure easier for the insurance claim.
Earlier, the petitioners’ counsel said that in other provinces, the amount paid on the retirement of an employee, while in Sindh, they keep the payment pending until a retired government employee reaches 65 years of age.
The high court had directed the provincial government and State Life to settle the insurance claims of employees or their legal heirs within a month.
It is to be mentioned here that several constitutional petitions have been filed challenging the delay in settlement of insurance claims.
