Holding that the parents who were wholly dependent on a soldier when he was alive, may be granted ordinary family pension for life, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has ruled that the ceiling on parents’ income stipulated under rules is not applicable in cases where the deceased’s mother is the sole recipient.
Pointing out that there is a specific bar under government rules that if the income of parents exceeds the prescribed limit, they will not get family pension after the death of an unmarried son, the Tribunal Chandigarh Bench observed that this question has been discussed by the Supreme Court, Punjab and Haryana High Court and also the Armed Forces Tribunal in several cases.
“It has been held by the Courts that if there is no monetary limit with regard to the payment of family pension to a widow, imposition of such restriction in the case of a mother will be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. The Courts have granted family pension in several cases to the mother who already had excess income above the prescribed limit,” the Bench comprising Justice Umesh Chandra Sharma and Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, said.
The Bench also observed that pension is neither an ex-gratia payment or bounty, nor a matter of grace depending upon the sweet will of the employer, but is a payment for the past service rendered. Parents are entitled to ordinary family pension for life only if the deceased service member left behind neither a widow nor a child.
“It is a social welfare measure rendering socio-economic justice to those who in the hey-day of their life ceaselessly toiled for the employer on an assurance that in their old age they would not be left in lurch,” the Bench said while placing reliance on a judgement of the Supreme Court on the subject.
Arguing for the petitioner, senior counsel Gurpreet Singh averred that her son was enrolled in the Punjab Regiment in February 2001 and died in October 2012 in a road accident while he was on annual leave. Her husband passed away in 2013.
After the soldier’s death, the parents applied for ordinary pension in January 2013 along with a certificate showing their annual income to be Rs 7.42 lakh. The claim was declined in February 2013 on grounds that the income exceeded the prescribed ceiling.
Thereafter, another certificate was issued by the local administration in December 2015 showing the mother’s income to be Rs 31,500 and she sent representations to the pension authorities in December 2015, October 2016 and April 2019, explaining that she was living alone and hence was entitled ordinary family pension.
Another certificate was issued in February 2021 stating that she was living separately and had no source of income nor was in receipt of any kind of government pension. All the representations were rejected.