Family pension in case of two widows to be paid after deciding legality of second marriage

Family pension for central government employees having more than one wife will now be settled on a case-to-case basis after consultation with Law Ministry on legality of second marriage, an office memorandum (OM) from pensioners and pensioners’ welfare has said.

This stand has been taken by the Department after it received references regarding eligibility of family pension to the second wife when the first wife is alive. According to the OM, having second wife when the first wife is alive is against the provisions of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and also contradictory to the provision of CCS (Pension) Rules 2021.

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After examining the matter, the Department has decided “such cases need to be processed in accordance with the provisions of CCS (Pension) Rules, 2021 and the issue of second wife or second marriage being legal or otherwise may be decided first in consultation with Department of Legal Affairs on case-to-case basis for deciding the eligibility for family pension.” Existing rule says ‘widow’ or ‘widower’ shall mean a spouse, legally wedded to deceased government servant or pensioners.

Existing rule also says “Where the deceased government servant or pensioner is survived by more widow than one, the family pension shall be paid to the widows in equal shares and on the death of or ineligibility of a widow, her share of the family pension shall become payable to her child or children who fulfill the eligibility conditions.”

Now all the Ministries and Departments have been advised to follow the process of consultation with Legal Affairs Department before arriving at a decision regarding settlement of family pension between two wives under Central Civil Services (Pension) rules. “Such cases must be brought to the notice of the officers dealing with the pensioners; benefits in the respective Ministry/Department by the attached or subordinate offices,” the OM said.

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The family pension for central government employees is 30 per cent of the deceased employee’s last drawn pay, with a minimum of Rs 3,500 and a maximum of Rs 27,000 per month. However, there are some exceptions. 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. If both parents are alive, the family pension is 75 per cent of the last drawn pay. If only one parent is alive, the family pension is 60% of the last drawn pay. If the employee died while in service, the family pension is 50 per cent of the last drawn pay for 10 years and then rate would be 30 per cent.