The stepmothers are not entitled to get the pension since they cannot be considered as a mother under the Indian Air Force rules, being distinct from the natural mother in both legal and relational terms, the Central government tells the Supreme Court of India on Thursday. The Government of India said that the pension is “not a bounty”.
Before a bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan, and N Kotiswar Singh, the Centre referred to various decisions of the top court relating to maintenance and other welfare benefits, which held that the term "mother" refers to the natural or biological mother alone and not to a stepmother.
"It is a settled principle of law that, although a pension is not a bounty and is claimable as a matter of right, such a right is neither absolute nor unconditional. A person seeking pensionary benefits must establish a clear entitlement under the applicable statutory provisions or regulations," the Centre said, as a reply to the pleas challenging the Armed Forces Tribunal order denying special family pension to one Jayashree Y Jogi. In this case, Jogi raised the deceased, who served as an Airman, who was 6 years old when his biological mother passed away and his father remarried.
She challenged the AFT's December 10, 2021, order on the ground that she was a "stepmother", therefore, not eligible for the benefit of "special family pension", admissible to the biological mother. Jogi's plea filed through advocate Siddharth Sangal said her deceased son was an active airman and was dining at the Air Force Mess when he died under mysterious circumstances on April 28, 2008. But as per the IAF’s statement, the airman died by suicide. The bench will hear the matter on November 20.
Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj is the Central Government’s representative. Nataraj, on July 19, 2024, said the SC framed the issue for consideration as: "Whether a stepmother is entitled to special and ordinary family pension under the Army regulations." The Centre said, in the present case, the claim of the appellant (Jogi), who is the stepmother of the deceased Airman, is governed by the Pensions Regulations for the Indian Air Force, 1961 and as per its Regulation 192, she does not fall within the category of eligible dependents entitled to receive family pension.
Under regulation 192, the eligible family members of a deceased individual for the grant of a special family pension, provided that they are otherwise qualified: (i) Widow, lawfully married (ii) Father (iii) Mother (iv) Son, actual and legitimate (v) Daughter, actual and legitimate.
"Including a stepmother, who, by definition, is not a biological parent, would amount to an unwarranted judicial expansion beyond the scope intended by the legislature," it said.
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