Daughter Widowed After Government Servant’s Death Not Entitled to Family Pension: Rajasthan High Court

The common judgment decided four writ petitions, taking Sarla Devi Acharya’s case as the lead case (para 2). Her father, a government servant, retired on 31.01.1982 and died on 20.09.2017; she was then married, and her husband died on 20.02.2023 (paras 2.1-2.3). Her application for family pension, made at the age of 73 on 09.02.2024, was rejected on 04.05.2024 (paras 2.4-2.5). She relied on a Pension Department clarification of 16.01.2013 treating daughters widowed after the employee’s death as eligible (paras 5-6). The State relied on a Finance Department clarification of 26.06.2024 taking the opposite view, and on judgments including Ratna Sarkar and Hemlata Sharma (paras 9-12).

Rules 66 and 67, the Court noted, already covered widowed and divorced daughters; the 2012 and 2018 amendments changed the income ceiling and removed the age limit of 25 years (paras 17-21). The question was whether a daughter whose marriage ends after the government servant’s death qualifies (para 22). Under Rule 4, claims are governed by the Rules in force when the government servant retires or dies, the relevant date for the family’s right (para 23). Here that date was 20.09.2017; the petitioner then had a subsisting marriage and fell outside the definition of ‘family’ in Rule 66 (paras 24-25). A change of status after the death cannot create the right (para 26). The Rules protect a daughter dependent on the pensioner on the relevant date; the petitioner, 73 when she applied, could not claim 40 years of dependency on a father who retired in 1982, and the affidavit of her dependency was ex facie incorrect (para 27). The Court agreed with the Calcutta High Court in Ratna Sarkar (para 28) and, following the Division Bench in Hemlata Sharma, gave the 2013 circular no credence as contrary to the scheme of the Rules, particularly Rule 4 (paras 29, 31).