Summary of this article
Tripura HC has allowed family pension after a daughter’s later divorce.
Pension rules have not required divorce before the father’s death.
Corporation must pay arrears with 6 per cent annual interest.
The Tripura High Court has held that the applicable pension rules do not require a daughter to have obtained a divorce before the death of the pensioner, according to the judgement notice. The ruling has also clarified that where other eligibility conditions are met, family pension can start from the date of divorce.
Background Of The Case
Paul is the daughter of a former Agartala Municipal Corporation employee who retired in 2004 and passed away on December 2, 2018. His wife had died before him.
Paul was married when her father died. She had later obtained a divorce by mutual consent on October 4, 2021. On February 23, 2022, she applied for a family pension under the Tripura State Civil Services (Revised Pension) Rules, 2017.
The Agartala Municipal Corporation rejected her application in October 2024. The Corporation had argued that a 2018 memorandum of the Tripura Finance Department extending family pension to divorced daughters had not been adopted and ratified by it.
Paul had challenged the rejection before the High Court. A Single Judge had accepted that a divorced daughter can qualify for a family pension, but had rejected her claim because she was married when her father died.
Court Finds No Such Condition In Rules
The Division Bench has disagreed with that interpretation. It has examined Rule 8 of the Tripura State Civil Services (Revised Pension) Rules, 2017, which provides family pension to eligible unmarried, widowed and divorced daughters, subject to conditions including the prescribed income limit.
The Bench has found that Rule 8 does not state that a daughter must be divorced on the date of the pensioner's death. It has therefore been held that the Single Judge had added a condition that the rule itself does not contain.
The court has also noted that the Corporation had acknowledged in its own response that a legally divorced daughter could receive a family pension if her income was below Rs. 3000 a month. The Bench has therefore rejected the Corporation's claim regarding the non-adoption of the 2018 memorandum as contrary to the record.
Divorce After Pensioner’s Death
The court also relied on a July 19, 2017, Office Memorandum issued by the Government of India. It specifically covered cases where divorce proceedings were initiated while the pensioner was alive, but the divorce was granted after the pensioner's death.
In such cases, family pension can begin from the date of divorce, provided the claimant meets the other eligibility requirements.
The Bench has also noted that Paul had lived with and depended on her father for years before his death. It has rejected the Corporation's attempt to question the circumstances recorded in her divorce proceedings.
The High Court has therefore allowed the appeal and set aside the Single Judge's order. It has directed the Corporation to pay Paul's family pension from October 4, 2021, the date of her divorce decree.
The arrears have to be paid within three months, along with 6 per cent annual interest calculated from the dates on which the pension amounts became due until payment.
