Double Family Pension

Queries are constantly received on this blog as to whether families of re-employed defence pensioners are entitled to the benefit of double family pension separately for military service and re-employed service. For example, if a military pensioner joins a pensionable non-military service after his release from the defence services and then dies in harness while in the subsequent service or dies after earning the second pension, then is his family entitled to the benefit of double family pension separately in respect of both the services ?.
The answer is NO.
However there are exceptions to the rule. In case the second pension is ‘contributory’ in nature, then both family pensions are admissible. The Courts have held that both family pensions would also be admissible if the second pension is granted from a non-government fund or from a fund / trust specifically created for the purposes of a pension scheme as is the case with most nationalised banks.
While the above is the current legal position, it would actually be much desirable if families of those personnel, civil or military, who have earned two pensions, are also granted the benefit of two family pensions since if the government employee himself / herself had earned two pensions, then depriving the family of the extension of the same does not stand to logic.

Service element : civilian employees now at par with defence personnel

Disability pension in the defence services as well as the civil services consists of two elements – service element and disability element. While service element is related to the length of service (proportionately reduced for service below pensionable span) subject to a minimum of Rs 3500 at 6th CPC rates, disability element is linked to the percentage of disability.
With effect from 1973, there was no minimum service requirement for earning a service element in the defence services and a person with even one single day of service was made entitled to service element.
There is no requirement for a minimum qualifying service for earning a service element for civil employees too under the CCS (EOP) Rules, however this was true only for operational disabilities. For non-operational disabilities for diseases such as hypertension etc, there was a minimum requirement of 10 years of service on the civil side to earn a service element though practically this did not matter much since normally civil employees are not prematurely discharged on medical grounds as routinely as is in the case of defence services.
However now the govt has abrogated the minimum requirement of 10 years’ service for earning a service element on the civil side even for non-operational disabilities and placed them at par with defence retirees.
A welcome step indeed for disabled personnel from the civil services.
The letter, which has financial effect from 01-01-2006, can be accessed by clicking here.