A daughter’s name cannot be deleted from the list of family members eligible for a government servant’s family pension, an order from the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare has clarified. The order has also asked ministries and departments to ‘strictly’ release all the retirement benefits including those under Extraordinary Pension (EOP) at the earliest, to avoid interest payments.
“The daughter is deemed to be a member of the family of the government servant as and when intimated by the government servant in the prescribed proforma. Hence the name of the daughter shall remain included in the details of the family members,” the office memorandum said. It further clarified that eligibility for family pension will be decided after the death of pensioners/family pensioners, in accordance with rules.
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According to the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, family includes unmarried, married and widowed daughters, including stepdaughters and adopted. Despite this, there have been requests for clarification regarding the deletion of a daughter’s name from the family members list after retirement.
The rules stipulate that as soon as a government servant enters service, he/she must give details of his/her family, including information about their spouse, all children, parents and disabled siblings (regardless of their eligibility for family pension). Further, the government servant is required to submit updated details of their family along with their pension papers before retirement.
Rules say a daughter (other than one suffering from a mental or physical disability) is eligible for pension until she gets married, remarried or starts earning a livelihood. Unmarried/widowed/divorced daughters over the age of 25 years can receive a family pension, provided all other children in the family are either over 25 years of age or have started earning a livelihood. If there is a disabled child, they will have the first right on the family pension.
The rate of family pension for central government employees under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) is 30 per cent of the deceased employee’s last drawn pay. However, if the employee had completed at least 7 years of qualifying service, the family pension can be enhanced to 50 per cent of the last drawn pay. The 50 per cent rate will be paid for a period of 7 years from the day after the death or until the pensioner reach the age of 67, whichever is earlier. After that, the family pension will be paid at the rate of 30 per cent of the last pay.
EOP or disability pension is given in case of disablement or death during service. In a recent case, a central government department took a view that since EOP rules have been notified by Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare, so only it will implement the court order. The tussle between two departments delayed the payment.