Are Divorced Daughters Eligible To Receive Family Pension? Calcutta High Court Says This

Is a divorced daughter eligible to receive a family pension after her father’s death? In a recent case, the Calcutta High Court bench comprising Acting Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen, affirmed that divorced daughters are entitled to receive family pension even if their divorce decree is finalised after the death of the pensioner. The court dismissed the challenge from the Union of India and upheld the Central Administrative Tribunal’s (CAT) decision to grant family pension to the daughter.

Case Background

The case pertains to Mita Saha Karmakar (daughter and respondent in this case), whose father (pensioner) was a South Eastern Railway employee. He retired in 1983, and since then has been getting a pension. He died on April 19, 2013, and her mother passed away two years before in 2011. The matter of family pension came to the fore because the daughter was living with her father.

Her life took a difficult turn when she was allegedly driven out of her matrimonial home in 1997. She got married in 1991, but after she was forced out of the house, she took shelter with her father in 1997. Since then, she has been living with her father.

In 1997, her husband filed a petition for divorce, but the matter couldn’t be settled because of non-payment of maintenance. After her father’s death, she (daughter) filed a new case in 2014 and received a divorce decree in 2016 on the grounds that she had been deserted since 1995.  

Arguments

The counsel of the petitioner (Union of India) argued that the CAT’s order to grant family pension to the daughter was erroneous. The counsel contended that the respondent (daughter) is not eligible for family pension because she filed her divorce petition after her father’s death, and thus, she cannot be considered a dependent on her father at the time of his passing. The counsel referred to the Jayanti Chatterjee vs Union of India case to support the argument.

The counsel of the daughter, on the other hand, argued that she had been dependent on her father since 1997, and that the divorce proceedings had been pending during his lifetime, even if these were initiated by her husband. This makes her eligible for a family pension, the counsel contended.    

Court Observation

The court observed the dates and rule under the DO.P.T. Office Memorandum dated July 19, 2017. It quoted the Clause 6 of the OM dated July 19, 2017, according to which “it has been decided to grant of family pension to the divorced Daughter in such cases where the divorce proceeding had been filed in a competent court during lifetime of the Pensioner/Employee or his/her spouse, but divorce took place after their death -provided the claimant fulfils all other conditions for grant of family pension under rule 54 of the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972. In such cases, family pension will commence from the date of divorce.”

The bench noted that the rule does not mandate obtaining a divorce decree during the pensioner’s lifetime. It only tells about the commencement of proceedings during the parent’s/pensioner’s lifetime, which was initiated by the daughter’s husband in this case.

The court also noted that the daughter had provided sufficient evidence of being deserted by her husband in 1995 and living with his father for over a decade until his death.  

Court Judgment

The court clarified that the referred case of Jayanti Chatterjee in the arguments is different from this case because in Jayanti’s case, she couldn’t  substantiate her claims of dependency on her father or whether any divorce proceedings were initiated by her or against her during her father’s lifetime.

Taking into account the arguments and evidence, the court found no error in the Tribunal’s order. It rejected the writ petition filed by the Union of India and upheld the Tribunal’s order entitling the daughter to receive family pension.