26 years after pilot died in copter  crash, widow gets due benefits

Over a quarter of a century after an IAF pilot was killed in a helicopter crash while rescuing German trekkers in the Himalayas, his widow has been granted liberalised family pension that is entitled to battle casualties after judicial intervention by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).

In August 1999, Flight Lieutenant SK Pandey, a skillful helicopter pilot was on a delicate mission on the request of the civilian administration for rescuing some German trekkers stranded in treacherous conditions in Lahaul-Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh after a cloudburst.

The liberalised family pension, which is higher than the ordinary pension, was refused to the widow, Rakhi Pandey, by the authorities despite the fact that the widow of the helicopter's copilot, had already been released liberalised pension on similar orders by the AFT in 2023.

Two years after the demise of her husband, the Central Government in 2001 implemented the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission wherein widows whose husbands had died in such missions were now made entitled to liberalised pension.

The orders were made applicable to all cases retrospectively with effect from January 1996. However, the requisite pension was still not released to the wife of the late officer in the absence of a “battle casualty” certificate from the Air Force authorities.

After a long struggle, the Air Force authorities finally issued the “battle casualty” certificate to the widow stating that she was now entitled to liberalised with effect from 1999.

The certificate by the Air Force was, however, rejected by the Joint Controller of Defence Accounts, observing that the case of the widow did not fall within the policy for grant of liberalised pension.

Holding her fully entitled to liberalised pension, the AFT's Chandigarh Bench comprising Justice Umesh Chandra Sharma and Air Marshal Manavendra Singh held that the government circular of 2001, which was made applicable from January 1996, fully covered the circumstances of the death of the late pilot for grant of liberalised pension.

The AFT, based on law settled earlier by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, has also observed that once there was a positive declaration by the Air Force authorities stating that the widow was covered under the rules for grant of such benefits, then the accounts branch had no right to override such an opinion of the Air Force and that the job of the accounts branch was only to calculate pension and release the same, and not to sit over the findings of the competent authorities.