Woman gets family pension denied to her for over 30 years, says NHRC

The National Human Rights Commission has ensured that a woman got the family pension which had been "denied" to her for over 30 years since her husband died in 1987, officials said on Monday.

In a statement, the NHRC said the woman's husband was a retired ambulance driver who had served at the Safdarjung Hospital here.

The NHRC "has ensured that a woman got her family pension, which was being denied to her" for over 30 years, the rights panel said.

The Pay and Accounts Office of the Safdarjung Hospital has informed the Commission that her family pension order has been issued on June 22, 2022, it said.

Now, she is entitled to get a monthly pension of Rs 9,000. Besides this, the authorisation of payment of arrears of family pension has been granted for the period w.e.f. December 3, 1987 to March 31, 2022, the statement said.

The Commission had registered the case on the base of a complaint by the victim dated March 11, 2021.

In response to the Commission's notices to the authorities, the panel was informed that the file through which the memorandum was issued by the department to the victim was "destroyed", it said.

It was also conveyed that Pension Payment Order was issued in favour of her husband, however, as the family pension column was left as 'N/A' i.e. unmarried, hence family pension was not authorised, the rights panel said.

The Commission observed that in the event the record is destroyed, the authority concerned is entitled and competent to a create new file on the basis of the copies of the records available with the complainant or applicant, and subject to verification of facts that she was the legally wedded wife of the government employee who had died after retirement, it said.

In response, the Commission was informed that a team was constituted for this purpose. The team confirmed that the victim's status as the legally wedded wife of the deceased, paving the way for her family pension as well as payment of arrears, the statement said.