Stepmother can't be given family pension under IAF rules: Centre to SC

The Centre on Thursday informed the Supreme Court that pension was "not a bounty" and a stepmother couldn't be considered for family pension under the Indian Air Force rules being distinct from the natural mother in both legal and relational terms.

Before a Bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh, the Centre referred to various decisions of the top court relating to maintenance and other welfare benefits which held the term "mother" refers to the natural or biological mother alone and not to a stepmother.

"It is a settled principle of law that, although pension is not a bounty and is claimable as a matter of right, such a right is neither absolute nor unconditional. A person seeking pensionary benefits must establish a clear entitlement under the applicable statutory provisions or regulations," the Centre said.

The Centre's stand came in plea challenging an Armed Forces Tribunal order denying special family pension to one Jayashree Y Jogi.

Jogi raised the deceased, who served as an airman, since he was six after his biological mother passed away and the father remarried. She challenged the AFT's December 10, 2021, order on the ground that she was a "stepmother", therefore, not eligible for the benefit of "special family pension", admissible to the biological mother.

Jogi's plea filed through advocate Siddharth Sangal said her deceased son was an active airman and was dining at the Air Force Mess when he died under mysterious circumstances on April 28, 2008.

The air force claimed he died by suicide.

The Bench posted the matter for November 20.

The Centre represented through Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj said the top court on July 19, 2024, framed the issue for consideration as: "Whether a stepmother is entitled to special and ordinary family pension under the Army regulations."

The Centre said, in the present case, the claim of the appellant (Jogi), who is the stepmother of the deceased Airman, is governed by the Pensions Regulations for the Indian Air Force, 1961 and as per its Regulation 192, the she does not fall within the category of eligible dependents entitled to receive family pension.

Under regulation 192 the eligible family members of a deceased individual for the grant of a special family pension, provided that they are otherwise qualified: (i) Widow, lawfully married (ii) Father (iii) Mother (iv) Son, actual and legitimate (v) Daughter, actual and legitimate.

The Centre said the term 'mother' as used in Regulation 192 must be interpreted in line with the defined and limited categories of family members under the Regulation.

"Including a stepmother, who, by definition, is not a biological parent, would amount to an unwarranted judicial expansion beyond the scope intended by the legislature," it said, adding that while pensionary statutes are beneficial in nature and generally warrant a liberal interpretation, such interpretation must remain within the four corners of the statute or regulation.