Divorced daughter is entitled to family pension provided dependency is established and family objections are resolved.

The applicant, a 49-year-old divorced daughter of a deceased Railway employee who retired in 1995, sought the grant of family pension.

The applicant obtained a decree of divorce by mutual consent on July 9, 2012, while the pensioner was alive; the pensioner subsequently passed away on December 29, 2020.

The applicant claimed she remained dependent on her father from the date of her divorce until his death.

Upon applying for the pension under relevant DoPT circulars, a Welfare Officer’s investigation revealed potential objections from the applicant’s siblings.

The applicant countered this by filing affidavits from her siblings supporting her claim.

1. Whether a divorced daughter is entitled to family pension if the divorce decree was obtained during the lifetime of the pensioner and she remained dependent on him.

2. Whether the objections/disputes raised by siblings or family members can bar the statutory entitlement to family pension under the DoPT guidelines.

The Tribunal primarily applied the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) Office Memorandums dated 30th August 2004, 13th October 2006, 28th December 2011, and 11th September 2013.

These regulations establish that a divorced daughter is eligible for family pension provided she was dependent on the pensioner at the time of death and has not remarried.

The law prioritizes the legal status and dependency of the claimant over informal family disputes, provided documentation (affidavits and identification) confirms the facts.

The Tribunal noted that the respondents do not dispute the legal entitlement of a divorced dependent daughter to receive family pension.

The core impediment was an administrative concern regarding internal family disputes and objections initially recorded by the Welfare Officer.

The Tribunal observed that the applicant had produced affidavits from the siblings supporting her case, effectively neutralizing the prior objections.

The Member (J) reasoned that the matter required a factual verification process rather than a complex legal adjudication. By directing a physical appearance of all interested parties before the Senior Divisional Personnel Officer, the Tribunal sought to formalize the family’s' "no-objection" through recorded statements and verified identification documents (Aadhaar, photographs), thereby fulfilling the evidentiary requirements of the DoPT OMs.

The Senior Divisional Personnel Officer was directed to grant an audience to the applicant and her siblings on July 20, 2026, to record statements and verify documents. The competent authority must decide the case within four weeks of that meeting, and if found entitled, finish the pension processing within a further eight weeks. No costs were awarded.