The Punjab and Haryana high court has upheld the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) decision of awarding higher pension to the widow of an Indian Air Force pilot who was killed in a 1968 crash.
Petitioner Shammi Malhotra’s husband Squadron Leader PN Malhotra was the co-pilot of the ill-fated transport aircraft, AN-12, that crashed near the Dhaka glacier in an inaccessible part of Himachal Pradesh on February 7, 1968.
The aircraft was on its way from Chandigarh to Leh to carrying 102 troops for deployment in forward areas of the Indo-China border. All passengers and pilots were declared officially missing on August 19, 1969, and later presumed killed-in-action.
Over 54 years later, in July 2022, the government had rejected her representation that demanded liberalised pension and arrears since 1996.
She challenged the refusal before the AFT, which ruled in her favour in August 2024. But the order was challenged in the high court by the Government of India.
The government argued that the benefit of liberalised family pension with effect from January 1, 1996, had been granted to her. However, the benefit of life-time arrears was to be granted from 2016 and not from 1996.
{{/usCountry}}The government argued that the benefit of liberalised family pension with effect from January 1, 1996, had been granted to her. However, the benefit of life-time arrears was to be granted from 2016 and not from 1996.
{{/usCountry}}The high court bench of Justices HS Sethi and Amarinder Singh Grewal dismissed the Centre’s plea, observing that the mere fact that a person had not claimed the benefit admissible to them immediately did not devoid them of it when claimed.
“..Being a model employer, the Union is obligated to extend the benefit of Liberalised Family Pension to the family members of the deceased armed forces personnel, who died or were deemed to have died while performing official duties, as per the applicable rules and entitlements,” it said.
“The benefit of such pensionary provisions is intended to provide financial security and support to the dependents of the deceased personnel who made the supreme sacrifice in the course of service,” it further said.
It added that the issue of grant of arrears to army personnel had been settled by the Supreme Court while holding that pensionary entitlements partook the character of property and were neither a bounty nor an ex-gratia payment that could be withheld, reduced or extinguished except by authority of law.
It further referred to the apex court observation which stated that the Centre had taken a conscious policy decision so as to grant benefit of arrears of disability pension to all eligible ex-servicemen from January 1, 1996, or January 1, 2006, as the case may be, which was clear from the September 2014 communication of the deputy secretary (Pension), Government of India, and October 2018 communication of the director, department of pension and pensioner’s welfare, granting the benefit to all eligible from 1996 or 2006, depending upon the category of the employee.
The court termed the Centre’s plea devoid of any merit and dismissed it, holding that the widow is entitled for arrears from January 1, 1996.