Divorced Daughter Not Entitled To Family Pension If Divorce Occurred After Pensioner-Father's Death: Tripura High Court

The Tripura High Court has held that a daughter who obtained a decree of divorce after the death of her pensioner father is not entitled to family pension under the Tripura State Civil Services (Revised Pension) Rules, 2017. The Court clarified that eligibility for family pension must exist on the date of death of the pensioner, and cannot be acquired subsequently.

Justice S. Datta Purkayastha remarked that:“On plain reading of the said clause, it appears that the divorced daughter of the original pensioner… is entitled to get family pension… Therefore, the condition precedent for entitlement to family pension is that the daughter should be a divorced daughter when the original pensioner died as the right to receive such pension accrues on the death of the original pensioner or on the death of his/her spouse…”

Further the Court noted:“At the time of death… her status was not of a divorced daughter rather of a married daughter separated from her husband… The Revised Pension Rules, 2017 does not cover the case of the petitioner to extend the benefit of family pension…”

Background:

The petitioner's father, a labourer in the Agartala Municipal Corporation, retired in 2004 and died in 2018. At the time of his death, his daughter was married but living separately from her husband. She obtained a divorce decree only in 2021 and thereafter applied for family pension, which was rejected.

She contended that after a few days of the marriage, her husband went missing and she took shelter in her father's house and has been living there for more than 40 years.

Reiterating Rule 8 of the Revised Pension Rules, 2017, the Court stated that the right to receive family pension accrues upon the death of the pensioner, and eligibility must be determined on that date.

Further the Court remarked that eligibility depends on marital status, not merely on financial dependence. As at the time of death her status was of a 'married daughter separated from her husband' and not a divorced daughter. Thus, the rules do not permit grant of family pension to said category.

Accordingly, the Court stated that it cannot reframe the legislation and dismissed the writ petition.

Case Name: Smt. Ujjala Rani Paul, V/s The Agartala Municipal Corporation & Ors.

Case No.: WP ( C) No.132 of 2025

Date of Decision: 01.04.2026

For the petitioner: Mr.P. Roy Barman, Sr. Advocate.

Mr. Samarjit Bhattacharjee, Advocate.

Mr. Sujoy Sarkar, Advocate.

For the Respondent(s): Mr. Arijit Bhaumik, Advocate.

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