Mala Devi vs Union of India & Ors.

Court

Supreme Court of India

Date

16 July 2025

Case No.

Civil Appeal No. 10672 of 2016

Result

Allowed

Bench

Sanjay Karol, Satish Chandra Sharma

Citation

[2025] 8 S.C.R. 221 : 2025 INSC 855

Acts & Sections

Indian Railway Establishment Manual & the… Constitution

Issue for consideration

Whether in the facts and circumstances of the case, the Appellant is entitled to family pension of her late husband, and whether a denial of such relief was justified.

Headnote

Indian Railway Establishment Manual & the Railway Pension Rules, 1993 – rr.75, 18(3) – Family pension – Entitlement to – Appellant’s husband, a temporary employee with the Eastern Indian Railways died in harness – Claim of the Appellant for family pension was denied on the ground that it is not admissible to the wife of an employee whose services were not regularized – Justifiability:

Held: Unjustifiable – r.75 makes it clear that the qualifying service for a temporary railway servant to be entitled for the grant of benefit of family pension is a continuous service of one year – More so, this benefit of family pension is accrued to the family of the deceased railway servant who died in harness after completion of one year of continuous service, without any discrimination, whether the post was temporary or had been regularized – Appellant’s husband, after one year of continuous service, clearing his medical examination, screening and upon being subsequently deputed on a different post, acquired the status of a temporary railway servant for the purposes of the 1993 Pension Rules and thus, became entitled to the benefit of family pension, as any other temporary railway servant – Depriving the Appellant of family pension from her deceased husband for not completing 10 years of qualifying service by falling short of hardly 3 months, is not in congruence with the legislative intent of the 1993 Pension Rules – Appellant entitled to family pension in light of the decision in Prabhavati Devi case – Family pension qua the deceased governed as per r.75 r/w r.18(3) – Impugned order of High Court and the order of the CAT, Patna, set aside – Ex-gratia amount of Rs.5,00,000/- awarded to the Appellant in exercise of power u/Art.142. [Paras 9-11, 13-15]

Judgment Satish Chandra Sharma, J. 1. The Appellant herein is the widow of Late Shri Om Prakash Maharaj, a temporary employee with the Eastern Indian Railways, who died in harness on 10.07.1996, having completed 9 years 8 months and 26 days of service from the date of his appointment on 15.10.1986. 2. The Appellant had approached the Learned Central Administrative Tribunal vide O.A./050/00276/2014 seeking family pension from the date of death of her husband with all consequential benefits along with interest at the rate of 18% per annum, which was dismissed by the Learned Tribunal vide Jud

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