Divorced Daughter Eligible for Freedom Fighter's Pension

Father of Khajani Delvi of Bhiwani in Haryana, a freedom fighter, died in 1994. She lost her mother a year later. She is the only daughter of her parents. Khajani had divorced her husband in 1989 and moved in with her parents. She has no child.

After the death of her parents, she, being an unemployed daughter, received dependent family pension, which was stopped on the grounds that she was divorced.

Single bench judge Punjab and Haryana High Court at Chandigarh had decided that ‘the divorced, unemployed daughter of a freedom fighter would not be entitled to family pension after the death of her parents.

The division bench of Justice Mahesh Grover and Justice Shekher Dhawan has accepted the appeal against the single-judge order.

The high court division bench said that the object of the clause in Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme, 1980, was that one member of the family be paid, hence Khajani was eligible.

The bench, observing that pension schemes were intended to honor the valor of the uniformed people who laid down their lives or suffered for the cause of the country. “We would, thus, not place any demeaning interpretation on the scheme to deprive the unsung heroes of the country of benefits meant to ensure a life of dignity to their dependents,” the bench said, adding there was no rationale in including unmarried daughters but excluding divorced daughters.

In the High Court of Punjab and Haryana, at Chandigarh

Letters Patent Appeal No. 1721 of 2015

Date of Decision: 29.07.2016

Khajani Devi ... Appellant(s) Versus Union of India and Others ... Respondent(s)

CORAM: Hon'ble Mr. Justice Mahesh Grover. Hon'ble Mr. Justice Shekher Dhawan

The decision can pave the way in general for laying down in all cases that;"there is no rationale in including unmarried daughters but excluding divorced daughters."