TANBIR DHALIWAL CHANDIGARH, JANUARY 6 THE Chandigarh bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) on Monday restored the benefit of ordinary family pension to the widow of an Army man. The pension was stopped on account of her remarriage to her husband''s brother. Ramesh Singh was a gunner in the Army''s artillery regiment. In 1987, he died in an accident while he was on casual leave. In 1987, the Controller of Defence Accounts in Allahabad rejected his wife Balvinder Kaur''s claim for special family pension saying Ramesh was not on duty when he died. However, she was granted ordinary family pension, which is lesser than special pension, with effect from May 1987. Later, she married her brother-in-law. Afraid that her pension will be stopped after remarriage, in April 1996, Kaur appealed to the Army to grant ordinary family pension to her daughter Sukhvinder. The same year, the Army sanctioned the pension to Sukhvinder. After Sukhvinder''s marriage, the pension was stopped. Following this, Kaur requested for restoration of the ordinary family pension to her on July 2001. But the Army''s artillery record office rejected the claim, stating that she was not entitled to family pension because she had remarried. Kaur approached the AFT on July 15, 2010, seeking restoration of pension. She challenged the Army on the ground that regulation 219 of the Army Pension Regulations of 1961 made an exception when it came to widows of Armymen who marry the brother of their deceased husband. "The judgment is likely to help a large number of such windows who are unaware of their rights," said Kaur''s counsel.
Reported by Indian Express 4 days ago.
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