Vinod Poddar, the ailing retired Bihar State Sugar Corporation (BSSC) employee, on Thursday received a cheque of Rs 2 lakh from the corporation following an order of Patna High Court Justice S. Naiyar Hussain.
A fortnight ago, Poddar was virtually without any money for treatment because of non-payment of salaries and pension, among other retirement benefits, by the BSSC for nearly six years. The corporation issued the cheque on the second hearing of the case on Thursday.
“A photocopy of the cheque of Rs 2 lakh in the name of Vinod Poddar was presented during the hearing by the counsel of the sugar corporation. The defendant’s counsel claimed that the sugar corporation is financially defunct and it had to take a loan of Rs 2 lakh from the state government to make the corresponding payment. Against the claim of difficulty in making complete payment to Poddar, the court has asked me to talk to his relatives and claim for the total amount required for his treatment in the next hearing of the case, posted on May 15,” Poddar’s counsel Aditya Narain Singh said.
Poddar has a history of coronary heart disease since 2005 and is at present admitted at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. Doctors attending to the retired officer have suggested bypass surgery as the only option to remove blockage in three arteries of his heart.
The doctors have asked him to get the surgery conducted at the earliest, considering the pain in his heart and the number of cardiac attacks he has suffered in the past.
The Telegraph has carried a series of reports on Poddar’s case, following which the corporation issued two cheques for Rs 25,000 each on April 27 and May 2, respectively, as advance payment against his pending salaries amounting to Rs 17.5 lakh.
Later, advocate Singh filed a writ petition in the high court on April 30 as the counsel of Poddar.
Justice Hussain, in the first hearing on May 4, had ordered the corporation to release Rs 2 lakh by Wednesday. However, the corporation handed over the cheque of Rs 2 lakh on Thursday morning to Shubhika Shresth, the daughter of Poddar.
“I am obliged to Justice Hussain, who provided me with such a big relief in such short a span of time,” Poddar told The Telegraph from New Delhi over phone.