Family pension to divorced daughter cannot be denied if proceedings instituted after death of parents, rules AFT

Tribune News Service

Vijay Mohan

Chandigarh, May 24

The Armed Forces Tribunal has ruled that the date of institution of divorce proceedings by the daughter of a pensioner cannot determine her dependency on her parents and she is entitled to family pension even if the divorce proceedings were instituted after the demise of parents.

The Tribunal has set aside relevant portions of the IAF pension policy that restricted grant of family pension to daughters of ex-servicemen in cases where divorce proceedings began after the death of parents.

The daughter of a retired Air Force sergeant, who had expired in 2013 and his wife, who expired in 2016, was staying with her mother since 2013, granted a decree of divorce by the competent court in 2018.

Her claim for family pension had been rejected by the Air Force Authorities on the grounds that as per policy, a divorced daughter is eligible for family pension if the divorce case is filed within the life time of the parents, but in her case, the date of filing the case was after the death of her parents.

In her petition, she had averred that she had been permanently residing with her parents since 2013 and had filed a complaint against her husband for domestic violence in 2014 and sought maintenance.

She claimed that after her mother’s demise she had to cater for everything, including food, rent and children’s education, and since her mother’s family pension had ceased, her survival had become difficult. In such circumstances, she was forced to compromise and settle the complaint and moved for divorce.

She contended that the grant of pension to a widowed or divorced daughter is for survival and that divorce proceedings initiated after the demise of parents cannot detract from her rights. The action of the authorities to deny her family pension creates an unwarranted distinction between divorce proceedings and a divorce decree and hence is violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.

The Tribunal’s Bench comprising Justice Anu Malhotra and Vice Admiral Dhiren Vig observed that the only reason given why the petitioner was denied family pension was that the proceedings of divorce were filed after the demise of her parents.

“Merely because the divorce petition was instituted by the daughter of a deceased pensioner after his demise and after the demise of his wife cannot per se be a ground to disentitle her for grant of family pension, if otherwise entitled to the same,” the Bench ruled while observing that family pension is a social welfare measure rendering by providing economic security in old age to the pensioner and on his demise to his dependents so that they can lead a dignified life.

The distinction created by the Ministry of Defence’s letter of 2017 on the subject is wholly violative of Article 14 of the Constitution which mandates grant of equality to all persons before law as well as equal protection, which the state cannot deny to any person, the Bench said.

Ruling that the artificial distinction created by the Ministry of Defence’s letter of 2017 in relation to divorces daughters of armed forces personnel to be wholly unconstitutional, violative and discriminatory, the Bench set aside the “unspelt limitation” in the letter that granted family pension to divorced daughters only where divorce proceedings were instituted prior to the death of parents.

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