26 years on, widow of Air Force officer granted battle casualty pension

Time of India

3 days ago

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Chandigarh: Twenty-six years after a helicopter crash claimed the life of Flight Lieutenant SK Pandey, the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) Chandigarh, has directed the central govt to release the Liberalised Family Pension (LFP) to his widow, Rakhi Pandey.
In Aug 1999, Flt Lt Pandey was on a mission at the request of the civilian administration to rescue German trekkers stranded in treacherous conditions in Lahaul-Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh after a cloudburst.
The AFT bench, comprising Justice Umesh Chandra Sharma and Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, passed these orders while hearing the plea filed by the pilot's widow, Rakhi Pandey. The LFP was denied to her by the authorities despite the fact that the widow of Sqn Ldr FS Siddique, the co-pilot of the same helicopter with Flt Lt Pandey, got LFP on similar orders by the AFT in 2023.
Two years after the demise of her husband, the central govt in 2001 implemented the recommendations of the 5th Central Pay Commission, wherein widows whose husbands died in such missions were made entitled to LFP, which is a higher form of pension. The orders were made applicable to all cases retrospectively with effect from Jan 1, 1996. However, the requisite pension was still not released to the wife of the late officer in the absence of a 'battle casualty' certificate from the Air Force authorities.
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After a long struggle, the Air Force authorities finally issued the 'battle casualty' certificate to the widow, stating that she was now entitled to LFP with effect from 1999. The certification by the Air Force was, however, rejected by the Joint Controller of Defence Accounts, observing that the case of the widow did not fall within the policy for the grant of LFP.
Holding her fully entitled to LFP, the Chandigarh Bench of the AFT held that the govt circular dated Jan 31, 2001, which was made applicable from Jan 1, 1996, fully covered the circumstances of the death of the late pilot for the grant of Liberalised Family Pension.
The AFT, based on law settled earlier by the Punjab and Haryana high court, also observed that once there was a positive declaration by the Air Force authorities stating that the widow was covered under the rules for the grant of such benefits, then the accounts branch had no right to override such an opinion of the Air Force.
The job of the Accounts Branch was only to calculate the pension and release the same, not to sit over the positive findings of the competent authorities.
It was also observed by the AFT that similar orders were already passed for the widow of the co-pilot in the same crash.
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