A female central government employee or pensioner can nominate her child as a pension recipient in case a divorce, dowry, or domestic violence case is filed against her husband. The government has amended Central Civil Services (Pension) rules and accordingly prescribed a mechanism.

The latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) revealed in 2022 points, ‘cruelty by husband or his relatives’ accounted for a majority of the crime against women cases at 31.4 per cent or over 1.40 lakh in 2022. Also, there were 13,479 cases filed under the Dowry Prohibition Act.

In an office memorandum(OM), the Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare Department said that it received several representations seeking clarity on whether a female employee or pensioner can nominate her children in case of marital discord leading to filing a divorce petition or a case in a court. The Department discussed the matter with the Women and Child Development Ministry and accordingly amended the rules.

“It has been decided that in case divorce proceedings in respect of a female government servant/female pensioner are pending in a court of law, or the female government servant/female pensioner has filed a case against her husband under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act or Dowry Prohibition Act or under Indian Penal Code, such female government servant/female pensioner may make a request for grant of family pension after her death to her eligible child/children, in precedence to her husband,” an office memorandum issued by the Department said.

The existing rule says if a deceased government servant or pensioner is survived by a spouse, family pension is first granted to the spouse. Children and other family members become eligible for family pension, only after the spouse of the deceased government servant/pensioner becomes ineligible for family pension or dies.

With the change in the rule, the OM has also prescribed a mechanism for disposing of the application filed by a female employee for nomination. The concerned employee or pensioner will need to give in writing to the Departmental head about nomination. Based on that, in case of death of the applicant and during the pendency of the court proceedings, the family pension shall be given to the widower in case no child/children is eligible for family pension on the date of death of the female government servant/female pensioner.