AFT rules that divorce proceedings initiated during the pensioner’s lifetime can establish eligibility, even if the divorce decree is issued years later

The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) has held that a divorced daughter of a deceased veteran is entitled to family pension if divorce proceedings were initiated during the lifetime of the pensioner on whom she was dependent, even if the divorce decree was issued several years later.

Havildar Radhey Shyam Kashyap was enrolled in the Army Medical Corps (AMC) in September 1965. Upon his discharge from service in October 1989, he was granted a service pension. He died in July 2009, following which ordinary family pension was granted to his wife until her death in January 2024.

After her death, the applicant, claiming to be the divorced daughter of the deceased soldier, submitted a representation to the defence authorities in April 2025 through the Zila Sainik and Punarvas Board, seeking family pension on the grounds that she had been dependent on her parents before their deaths. Her request was denied.

She claimed that her marriage, solemnised in January 1999, ran into difficulties after the birth of her son and daughter in 2000 and 2001, respectively, and that all attempts at reconciliation had failed. She submitted before the AFT that she had been dependent on her parents at the time of their deaths and was entitled to family pension as a divorced daughter. She had filed a maintenance suit in 2006.

The government, on the other hand, contended that her parents had neither approached nor informed the AMC Records about the marital discord. It further submitted that she had applied for a divorce decree in May 2024 and that the marriage was dissolved in December 2024, after the deaths of her parents.

The AFT Bench, comprising Justice Suresh Kumar Gupta and Maj Gen Sanjay Singh, observed that the first case in the matter had been filed by the applicant’s husband in 2002, when her parents were alive. Since then, three more cases had been filed by both parties against each other in 2006, 2017 and 2024, during which she was granted maintenance allowance.

“The gist of the case is that due to matrimonial dispute, after filing of cases against each other, the applicant while residing with her parents, became dependent on them,” the Bench said.

“In our considered opinion, although the divorce decree in the said case was passed on 17.12.2024, the dependency of the applicant on her parents shall be counted from the date of filing of the first divorce case in the year 2002 as the litigation was in process for all these years which came to an end on 17.12.2024 when her parents were no more. Therefore, the final decree of mutual divorce is the result of continuous matrimonial dispute which originated in the year 2001,” the Bench ruled.

The Bench also referred to a letter issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions in July 2017, which stipulates that family pension may be granted to a divorced daughter if divorce proceedings were pending during the lifetime of the pensioner.

Setting aside the July 2025 order denying family pension to the daughter, the Bench directed the authorities to grant her family pension with effect from December 2024, along with arrears, within four months.