Unmarried daughters, sons entitledto receive parents’ pension, court rules

LAHORE :The Lahore High Court has held that unmarried daughters and sons under 24-year of age are entitled to receive family pensions of both of their parents simultaneously as both are independent of each other.

“One pension could not be withheld on the plea that withdrawal of other had become a regular source of income of withdrawer, the court ruled.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Ayesha A Malik ruled this while dismissing the Punjab government’s Intra Court Appeal(ICA) against the decision of single bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi. Single bench through its judgment issued on February 15, 2019, had set aside a notification issued by Punjab finance department barring eligible children from getting pensions of their deceased mother and father at the same time.

Kanwal Rashid had challenged the Punjab government September 15, 2015 notification in LHC through advocate Rana Asadullah Khan. Under the impugned notification, Miss Kanwal was asked to return Rs1.94 million to national exchequer as overdrawn. She was receiving the pension of her deceased parents until October 2016, when the pension of her father was not released in her favour. On inquiry, she was informed that she was only entitled to receive the pension of her mother in terms of the clarification issued by the Finance Department through a notification issued on September 11, 2015.

Single bench of Justice Najafi had ruled that impugned notification of September 11, 2015, could not be applied retrospectively on Kanwal Rashid’s case whose parents died in the year 1983 and 2009 respectively. The court held that drawing of pension has been wrongly construed as being a regular source of income as the drawing of pension is a vested right of the government servant which cannot be taken away through a notification.

The Punjab government has assailed single bench order through ICA which was dismissed by a division bench comprising Justice Ayesha A Malik and Justice Asim Hafeez and upheld single bench order. Additional Advocate General Shan Gul appeared on behalf of the Punjab government and stated that under Punjab Civil Services Pension Rules, 1963, the two pensions cannot be claimed by the petitioner as one pension is a sufficient source of income. Therefore, the petitioner could not claim the future pension, and was required to return Rs1.94 million drawn by her.

The two-member bench in its 8-page judgment authored by Justice Ayesha wrote that pension is the right of the civil servant by way of statute, which cannot be taken away arbitrarily by the Punjab government.

“Family pension is admissible to the son until the age of 24 or until he is gainfully employed. It means a son should be able to earn for himself by the age of 24 whereas in the case of a daughter it is either when she gets married or when she is able to earn a regular source of income. In the case of the daughter the age bar has been removed, for a reason, giving the daughter more time to earn a regular form of income, in her own capacity or to get married, the court ruled.

“The pension that she receives of her parents cannot be considered as an independent or regular source of income that she is earning in her own capacity, the court added.

“The Punjab government’s contention that unmarried daughter Kanwal is not entitled to two pensions is misconceived because each of the parents of her have earned their pension in their own right, while working for the Punjab Government. Being an unmarried daughter is entitled to receive pension of both her parents until her marriage or on acquiring regular source of income.

The court concluded that in terms of Section 23 of the Punjab Civil Servants Act, 1974 any change in the rules will be made by the governor. The deputy secretary cannot by way of clarification notification dated September 11, 2015 take away a right which the rules have clearly prescribed.