Widow of deceased soldier wins 37-year-old pension battle, AFT imposes Rs 2 lakh fine on authorities

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has granted special family pension to the widow of Naik Dharambir, a soldier who died in 1987, 37 years after his death during service. The tribunal’s Chandigarh bench also imposed an “exemplary” cost of Rs 2 lakh on the authorities concerned for causing suffering to the widow.

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Naik Dharambir, enrolled in the Rajputana Rifles in 1975, died from Hepatitis in 1987. The death certificate stated that his medical condition was aggravated by military service. Despite this, the widow was only granted ordinary family pension, which is lower than the special family pension she was entitled to.

It wasn’t until 30 years later, in 2017, that the widow discovered she was eligible for a higher pension. She sent a legal notice to Records Office and pension authorities but was rejected. The widow then approached AFT in 2019.

During the case, Records Office acknowledged that the widow was entitled to special family pension, but the Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) rejected the claim, citing that the appeal was time-barred. The AFT bench, consisting of Justice Sudhir Mittal and Lt Gen Ranbir Singh, ruled that PCDA’s actions were unjustified and deserving of exemplary costs.

AFT quashed the earlier orders rejecting the widow’s claim and ruled that she is entitled to special family pension from the day her husband died, along with full arrears for the entire period.

The bench also made it clear that the arrears are not to be restricted to three years prior to the date of filing the petition, as is the norm, but paid for the entire period since the soldier’s death.