Teacher's Day on Thursday will be just another cruel prank for 92-year-old retired headmaster T.R. Vasudeva Rao, thanks to a careless clerk.For, Rao’s been fighting unsuccessfully for over 33 years now to correct an error that fixed his pension at Rs 4 less per month. As Rao quickly adds, ‘‘In 1969, it really was a significant shortfall.’’ And after running behind that correction for 27 years, Rao approached the Karnataka Administrative Tribunal (KAT) in 1996. But despite a KAT order in his favour, the Government is yet to rectify the mistake.The result is Rao is due to get arrears of over Rs 23,000 plus the money due from the date of retirement.Rao simply says he is not in a position to knock at the government’s door any more. ‘‘I have met government officials but none set the blunder right.’’ ‘‘To this day, the KAT order has not been implemented.’’ A frustrated Rao burnt all documents after his wife’s death. ‘‘Before the KAT order, I had written to Sonia when Rajiv Gandhi was PM, so that the letter would be read,’’ he says.Indeed, the letter was sent back to state officials, but they did nothing. ‘‘I sent another letter to Shankar Dayal Sharma’s wife when he was the President. It was the same story all over again.’’‘‘I have been treated as a good-for-nothing person,’’ he says. ‘‘I have not paid bribe. If I had, they would have corrected the error.’’Does he expect justice at all? ‘‘Not unless the Chief Secretary takes up my case personally instead of handing it over to officials.’’ Rao’s got some support from the Senior Citizens Forum now.
