Tribunal directs Postal Dept to restore widow's family pension

Ramkrishan Upadhyay

Chandigarh, May 20

A widow, who remarries the younger brother of the deceased and continues to live a common life, is entitled to family pension. While ruling this, the Chandigarh Bench of the Central Administrative Tribunal has set aside the order of the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Chandigarh Division, Chandigarh, vide which the department has stopped the family pension of a widow on the ground that she had remarried.

The CAT also directed the Postal Department to restore her family pension and release the arrears accrued to her within a period of two months.

Kashmir Kaur, a resident of Ropar district, has approached the CAT with a prayer to set aside the order issued by the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Chandigarh Division, dated October 11, 2021 whereby the department has ordered the recovery of family pension received by her from July 1, 1992 to December 31, 2020, on the ground that she had remarried. She also demanded that the direction be issued to the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Chandigarh Division, to restore the family pension, which was stopped, and release arrears thereof.

She said her husband, Raj Kumar, was working as a workman telecommunication in the erstwhile Post and Telecom Department. He died on March 16, 1982. She married Raj Kumar’s younger brother, Mohan Lal, in year 1992.

She said a person later made a complaint that she got remarried. After inquiry, her family pension was stopped. She was getting family pension of Rs 11,779 per month. She was told by the department that her pension was stopped as her remarriage was a violation of Rule 54 (6) of the Central Civil Services Pension Rules – 1972.

Dheeraj Chawla, counsel for the applicant, said the respondent department had wrongly stopped the family pension. He referred to the provisions of the Central Civil Services (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, where an exception to the Rule 54(6) of CCS (Pension) Rules – 1972 had been made.

As per the rules, a widow or an employee who remarries her deceased husband’s brother and continues to live a communal life with or contributes to the support of other dependants of the deceased, shall not be disqualified for grant of extraordinary pension, otherwise admissible to her under these rules.

Chawla argued that in the present case, there was no dispute on the issue of marriage of the applicant with the brother of her husband and stopping pension in the backdrop of the statutory provisions was without sanction of law.

After hearing the arguments, the Tribunal said after considering the provisions of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972, and the CCS (Extraordinary) Pension Rules, it had been held that a widow, who remarries the younger brother of the deceased and continues to live common life, was entitled to family pension. For the reasoning given in a judgment of the High Court, the applicant is held entitled to the family pension.

The Bench said in view of this, the order dated October 11, 2021 was quashed and set aside. The respondents are directed to restore her family pension and release the arrears accrued to her within a period of two months from the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.