In a landmark development, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) has expanded the family pension rule allowing female government employees in the All India Services to nominate their children for family pensions instead of their husbands. The government has brought in alteration in the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021, made in 2024, allowing female employees to designate their children (both sons and daughters) for the family pension. The purpose behind this change is to assist woman employees engaged in marital conflicts and are fighting court cases under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act and the Dowry Prohibition Act.

Rule 22 of All India Services (Death-cum-Retirement Benefits) Rules, 1958 applies to the All India Services, such as the IAS, IPS, IFS and others. As per rule, family pension is granted to the spouse of a deceased member of service or pensioner. Only after the spouse becomes ineligible for family pension or passes away, do the children and other family members become eligible for family pension in succession.

The government had in January last year approved it in cases of family disputes in court. The DoPT has only extended these provisions.

The government’s benevolence does not stop here. It recently amended even its family pension rules in favour of divorced or separated daughters of the deceased employees by allowing them to claim their deceased father’s pension directly without requiring any legal implication.

Union Minister Jitendra Singh is said to have introduced this change in order to provide prompt financial assistance to women going through marital separation or divorce.

In yet another welcome decision, the government allows a widow without children to remarry while still obtaining her late husband’s pension, if her income is below the specified minimum pension threshold. These modifications are designed to safeguard women’s financial rights.