OSAKA (Kyodo) The Osaka District Court dismissed a damages suit Friday filed by 10 disabled people claiming it was unconstitutional for the government to deny disability pensions to them because they had not joined the national pension while in college.
At the time the plaintiffs became disabled, it was not mandatory for adult students to join the pension system.
The Osaka case is the ninth district court ruling out of 10 such lawsuits against the government. Tokyo and two other district courts have deemed the state's actions unconstitutional, but Kyoto and two other district courts have dismissed plaintiffs' claims.
The Tokyo High Court has ruled the state action was constitutional.
The plaintiffs in the most recent case are eight disabled people from Osaka, Hyogo and Nara prefectures ranging in age between 41 to 65, and two others who suffer from mental illness.
Until April 1991, students over 20 years old were not required to take part in the pension system, but those not enrolled were ineligible for disability payments if they became disabled after age 20.
However, those who became disabled before age 20 are eligible for the payments. The 10 plaintiffs applied for disability allowances after becoming disabled due to accidents or illness while they were in college, but their applications were rejected because they had not joined the national pension plan at the time they received their first medical treatment.
The plaintiffs claimed the government failed to revise legislation to correct problems in the pension system involving students aged 20 and older, and that its refusal to grant them disability pensions was unconstitutional.
The National Pension Law stipulates that those undergoing an initial medical exam related to a disability before age 20, the legal age of adulthood, are eligible for benefits even if they are not enrolled in the pension program.
