Andhra Pradesh High Court Orders Widow Pension Arrears From March 2024

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed the state government to pay pension arrears to a widow from March 16, 2024, when she had applied for the pension amount. The court has directed that the officials are not entitled to withhold the pension from an eligible person just because they had not processed her application in time.

The court issued an order on September 3, 2026 and instructed the authorities to determine the unpaid pension amount and pay it within 8 weeks of the order. Any amount which has already been paid must be deducted.

Widow Received Pension Approval In January 2026

Tadisetti Tirupatamma applied for a widow pension on March 16, 2024, following her husband's demise on July 14, 2023. Her husband had a disability and received a pension before he passed away.

Even though she satisfied all the eligibility conditions under the state's social security pension scheme, her application stayed pending. She approached the High Court after her efforts to obtain approval failed.

The state authorities attributed the delay partly to the Model Code of Conduct during the 2024 Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections. They argued that fresh social security pensions could not be sanctioned during that period. They also maintained that the scheme did not permit arrears from the date of application.

The High Court had directed the authorities to decide her application on January 8, 2025. Her pension was accepted by the government in January 2026, and she received Rs 4000 per month from February 2026 onwards. But she wasn't paid the pension benefits for the previous period.

Court Cites 21 Working Days For Pension Processing

The court mentioned that Andhra Pradesh's operational guidelines lay down 21 working days to process pension applications.

It also reviewed a government notification issued in June 2024, under which the scheme was restored as the NTR Bharosa Pension Scheme. Under the revised scheme, the monthly pension for widows and other eligible beneficiaries was increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 4000, from April 1, 2024 onwards. The new government order directed that the revised pension is to be disbursed to Tirupatamma from July 1, 2024, along with arrears worth three months.

The court noted that Tirupatamma was seeking pension payments for a period during which she was eligible for the benefit. It ruled that the authorities could not use their own failure to process her application within the prescribed period to deny her payments.

The court has also observed that the election code could explain a temporary restriction on fresh pension approvals, but it could not be used to deny benefits for the subsequent eligible period.

The authorities will now determine the unpaid pension from March 16, 2024, to the date her regular pension payments started in February 2026, based on the pension rates in effect and subtracting any payments received.