In a significant ruling, the Kerala High Court has clarified that family pension is not an estate or property of a deceased employee. This means that an employee cannot deny his legally-wedded wife or other dependents their right to claim the pension after his death.
The case arose from an Original Petition challenging an order by the Central Administrative Tribunal. A Division Bench consisting of Justice Amit Rawal and Justice KV Jayakumar ruled that family pension is neither a debt nor a security. As a result, authorities cannot demand a succession certificate for granting family pension.
The case was filed by S Sathikumari Amma, wife of the late Gopalakrishna Pillai, a retired postal assistant. Pillai had taken voluntary retirement in 2003 and passed away in 2013. At the time of his retirement, he had attempted to remove his wife and daughter from his service records. He also submitted an application stating that he had divorced his wife.
Following his death, Sathikumari Amma approached the Central Administrative Tribunal, seeking family pension along with interest. The Tribunal ruled in her favour, directing the Union of India and other respondents to release the pension until her death or remarriage. The decision was later challenged in the High Court.
The High Court examined whether family pension could be considered part of the deceased employee’s estate. It relied on previous Supreme Court judgments, stating that family pension is a benefit meant for dependents and cannot be disposed of by the employee.
Unlike other pensionary benefits such as gratuity or provident fund, family pension cannot be assigned to someone else or excluded from rightful claimants through a will or application. The Court emphasised that an employee has no legal standing to exclude their spouse or children from receiving family pension.
With this reasoning, the Bench dismissed the petition and upheld the Tribunal’s order, ensuring that the family pension rightfully goes to the dependents as intended by law.
