In an unusual judgement on family pension, the Punjab and Haryana High court on January 25 said that a widow is eligible for family pension even if she is convicted of murder.

The court observed that family pension is a welfare scheme which was launched to provide financial help to the family in the event of a government employee’s death.

Family Pension Rules, 1964 say if a person eligible to receive the family pension is charged with the offence of murdering the government employee or abetting in the commission of such an offence, the claim of such a person or any other eligible family member shall remain suspended till the conclusion of the criminal proceedings instituted against them.

The rules say that if found guilty, such a person shall be debarred from receiving the family pension.

The court while deciding the family pension case of Baljeet Kaur, who along with a co-accused was involved in a murder and was convicted on November 19, 2011, observed that the suspension of family pension citing bad conduct was wrong.

The petitioner Baljeet Kaur, who belongs to Haryana’s Ambala, had told the court that her husband Tarsem Singh was a Haryana government employee who passed away in 2008 while in service. In 2009, she was booked for a murder and later convicted in 2011.

Baljeet Kaur was getting the family pension till 2011 but the Haryana government stopped the pension immediately after her conviction citing the bad conduct as mentioned in the Pension Rules.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court while setting aside the Haryana government order has directed the concerned department to release petitioner’s family pension within a month along with the arrears.

The wife is entitled to a family pension under CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972 after her husband’s death. The widow of a government servant is also eligible to receive the family pension even after remarriage.