Unmarried 2nd Daughter Eligible For Family Pension Upon Disqualification Of The 1st: Madras HC [Read Judgment]

The Madras High Court, in the case of SP Jothi vs the Accountant General & Anr, has held that family pension may be transferred to unmarried second daughter upon the disqualification of the first daughter.

In this case, SP Jothi, a 68-year-old woman, was claiming her deceased father’s family pension. Upon the death of her mother, her elder sister was receiving the pension. The elder sister, upon second marriage, filed an affidavit and a no-objection certificate stating that since she remarried, she is not eligible for the family pension and that the same may be instead paid to SP Jothi. However, despite the application, the pension was not transferred to Jothi.

It was argued by the counsel for the Accountant General that since the elder sister’s second husband had also died and that since she is a widow now, the younger sister cannot be eligible to receive the family pension.

The court noted that the petitioner, upon her elder sister’s remarriage, had become eligible for receiving the family pension. A right once vested, cannot be taken away by the occurrence of any subsequent event which was not contemplated by the governmental order. Further, since the elder sister had herself willfully relinquished her right to the family pension upon her disqualification, the same cannot be taken away from the younger sister subsequently.

Read the Judgment here.