Page No.# 1/8 vs The State Of Assam And 2 Ors
2025 Latest Caselaw 8581 Gua

Gauhati High Court

Page No.# 1/8 vs The State Of Assam And 2 Ors on 17 November, 2025

                                                                       Page No.# 1/8

GAHC010076252021




                                                                 2025:GAU-AS:15502

                           THE GAUHATI HIGH COURT
  (HIGH COURT OF ASSAM, NAGALAND, MIZORAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH)

                              Case No. : WP(C)/3347/2021

           FERJINA PARBIN JALIL
           D/O LATE JALILUDDIN AHMED
           PERMANENT RESIDENT OF BOKAKHAT, NAHARJAN TINIALI, NEAR
           KRISTO JYOTI SCHOOL, PO AND PS BOKAKHAT, DIST GOLAGHAT, ASSAM,
           785612
           PRESENT ADDRESS
           BYE LANE NO. 5, VATIKA BLUE BELL, ZOO NARENGI ROAD, PS
           GEETANAGAR, GUWAHATI 781020, DIST KAMRUP M ASSAM

           VERSUS

           THE STATE OF ASSAM AND 2 ORS.
           REPRESENTED BY THE COMMISSIONER AND SECRETARY TO THE GOVT.
           OF ASSAM, PENSION AND PUBLIC GRIEVANCES DEPT. DISPUR GUWAHATI
           781006

           2:THE PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTANT GENERAL (A AND E)
           ASSAM
            MAIDAMGAON
            BELTOLA
            GUWAHATI 781029

           3:THE DIRECTOR OF PENSION
           ASSAM. HOUSEFED COMPLEX
            GUWAHATI 78100

Advocate for the Petitioner : MR. B D KONWAR SR. ADV., MR. K KALITA,MR. B BORAH,A.
ADO,MR K KASHYAB,MR. I H SAIKIA,MR. R KALITA,MR H AGARWAL,MR J SINGH,MR. R
SALOI,MRS J M KONWAR

Advocate for the Respondent : GA, ASSAM, SC, AG (A AND E)

Page No.# 2/8

:::BEFORE:::

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE KARDAK ETE

Date on which judgment is reserved : N/A

Date of pronouncement of judgment : 17.11.2025

Whether the pronouncement is of the Operative part of the judgment : No ' Whether the full judgment has been Pronounced : Yes

Judgment & Order(Oral)

Heard Mr. I. H. Saikia, learned counsel for the petitioner. Also heard Mr. D. Borah, learned Government Advocate for the respondent No. 1 and Mr. S. K. Medhi, learned Standing Counsel, AG for the respondent No. 2.

2. By filing this writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for a direction to the respondent authorities to provide family pension in favour of the petitioner, in terms of the amended Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969, as amended in 2018.

3. The petitioner claims to be an unmarried dependent daughter of late Jalil Uddin Ahmed, who had retired from service as Forest Ranger in the Sivasagar Forest Division on 30.09.2011 and died on 05.02.2015. The petitioner's mother predeceased her father on 07.04.2005. The family pension was provided to the petitioner under the then-existing Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969, which provided entitlement of family pension to an "unmarried Page No.# 3/8

minor daughter," and the petitioner received such pension until 14.09.2016.

4. It is the contention of the petitioner that the family pension was granted to her until she attained the age of 21 years. Thereafter, in view of the provisions of then-existing Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969, the pension was discontinued.

5. The State of Assam has amended Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969, vide notification dated 09.08.2018, wherein it provides that an unmarried dependent daughter would be entitled to draw family pension beyond 21 years of age. Note No. 4 appended to Rule 143 specifies that the benefits of the amended provision are to be allowed to those who were already drawing family pension as on the date of publication of the amended notification. However, the said amended Rule is silent on the situation where family pension, which was being drawn by a minor unmarried daughter until the attainment of 21 years of age, is to be continued thereafter for such unmarried dependent daughters.

6. Mr. I. H. Saikia, learned counsel for the petitioner, submits that since the petitioner was drawing family pension under the then-existing Rule 143 as an unmarried minor daughte in respect of her late father, she is entitled to continue to draw family pension in terms of the newly amended Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969. He further submits that the petitioner's pension had been discontinued upon attaining the age of 21 years under the old Rules, but with the subsequent amendment allowing unmarried dependent daughters to receive pension beyond 21 years, the petitioner is now entitled to continue to Page No.# 4/8

draw the family pension. Accordingly, it is submitted that the respondent authorities may be directed to provide family pension to the petitioner.

7. Mr. D. Borah, learned Government Advocate for the respondent No. 1 submits that as per Note 4 under the Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969, the cases where family pension is already being drawn on the date of publication of the notification i.e. 09.08.2018, same shall be allowed to continue by the current recipient till his/her eligibility ceases as per normal rules and thereafter, the family pension shall be paid as per procedure as indicated at Note 2 of the amended Rule 143 (ii)(c). He submits that the respondent authority has already allowed lifetime family pension to unmarried dependent daughters of deceased Government servants beyond the age of 21 years, by amending Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969, which is currently in vogue.

8. He submits that the applicability of family pension under Note 3 of amended Rule 143(ii)(c) provides that if, at the time of submission of a family pension claim, there are no minor children in the family, the family pension shall be paid either from the date of filing the application by the claimant or from the date of coming into force of the notification, whichever is later. No claim for arrear benefit under this Clause shall be entertained. Otherwise the family pension shall be paid following the date of death of the widow/widower as the case may be. Therefore, he submits that the petitioner is entitled to receive family pension from the date of the notification, and not from the date on which the pension was discontinued upon attaining the age of 21 years, as the amended Rule is prospective in nature.

Page No.# 5/8

8. I have considered the submissions of the learned counsels for the parties and also perused the materials available on record.

9. The short issue involved in this proceedings is as to whether the petitioner as an unmarried dependent daughter is entitled to draw family pension from the date of its discontinuation upon attaining the age of 21 years under the then existing Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969, and the amended Rule 143, particularly Note 4 therein.

10. The State of Assam, vide notification dated 09.08.2018, amended the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969, particularly Sub-Rule (1) of Rule 143, by substituting the words "unmarried minor daughter" with "unmarried dependent daughter". For ready reference, the said notification is extracted hereinbelow:

"Amendment of rule 143

2. In the principal Rules, in rule 143 -

(a) in sub-rule (i), in clause (d), the words "unmarried minor daughters" shall be substituted by the words "unmarried dependent daughters."

(b) in sub-rule (ii), in clause (c), for the punctuation mark "." appearing at the end, the punctuation mark "." shall be substituted and thereafter the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-

"Provided that family pension shall be allowed to continue beyond 21 years of age to an unmarried dependent daughter of a Government Servant /Pensioner, subject to the fulfilment of the following conditions :-

(i) that there is no disabled child eligible for life time family pension;

(ii) that a certificate of non-marriage and non-employment in the prescribed format Page No.# 6/8

duly certified by the C.O. / B.D.O. concerned (Annexure-III) shall be furnished by the unmarried dependent daughters to the Treasury or Bank once in a year."

(c) in sub-rule (ii), in clause (c), after Note 1 the following new notes shall be inserted, namely, - Note 2, Note 3, Note 4 and Note 5 :-

Note 2: In cases where there are two or more family members (minor son/unmarried dependent daughters) present at the time of death of the widow/widower, the family pension as admissible shall be divided to all of them in equal shares till their eligibility ceases as per sub-rule (ii) (b) or (c) of rule 143 (as amended). If all members are minors, the family pension shall be paid through legal/natural guardian, otherwise family pension shall be paid in the following manner -

(a) the family pension shall be paid to the eldest eligible member of the family who shall divide it equally among other eligible members;

(b) if the eldest eligible member becomes ineligible to receive the family pension, it shall be paid to the next eligible member of the family who shall divide it equally among other eligible members and so on.

(c) in every case, the family pension recipient has to sign and submit an indemnity bond to the competent authority so that the recipient divides the amount amongst the beneficiaries in equal share.

Note 3: If at the time of submission of family pension claim, there are no minor children in the family, the family pension shall be paid from the date of filing application by the claimant or from the date of coming into force of this notification whichever is later. No claim for arrear benefit under this clause shall be entertained. Otherwise, the family pension shall be paid from the date following the date of death of the widow/widower as the case may be.

Note 4: In cases where family pension is already being drawing on the date of publication of this notification, it shall be allowed to continue by the current recipient till his/her eligibility ceases as per normal rules and thereafter the family pension shall be paid as per the procedure mentioned above at Note 2 under Rule 143(ii)(c).

Note 5: The eligibility of dependent father, mother, brother (up to 18 years) and unmarried sister (up to 21 years) for family pension under the notification No. PPG(G) 10/2013/38 dated 20/08/2015 issued by this department is applicable only if Page No.# 7/8

there is no unmarried dependent daughters or disabled child eligible for life time family pension present in the family of the deceased Government Servant. The above mentioned notification is also applicable in cases where the Government Servant dies unmarried."

The provisions of this notification shall cover all cases of family pension irrespective of the date of death of the Government Servant/Pensioner."

11. A bare reading of the above Rule provides that in Rule 143, Sub-Rule (i)(d), the words "unmarried minor daughter" is substituted with "unmarried dependent daughter" with a proviso that family pension shall be allowed to be continued beyond 21 years of age to unmarried dependent daughter of a Government servant/pensioner, subject to fulfillment of certain conditions inter alia in cases where family pension is already being drawing on the date of publication of this notification, it shall be allowed to continue by the current recipient till his/her eligibility ceases as per normal rules and thereafter, the family pension shall be paid as per the procedure.

12. Upon due consideration of the amended Rules, it is seen that unmarried dependent daughters are allowed to draw the family pension of a deceased Government Servant/pensioner beyond the age of 21 years, whereas the earlier, unamended Rule 143 provided entitlement only to unmarried minor daughters. In the present case, the petitioner admittedly had drawn the family pension as an unmarried minor daughter under the then unamended Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969. The said family pension was discontinued upon her attaining the age of 21 years, in terms of the unamended Rule 143.

13. In view of the amendment of Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Page No.# 8/8

Rules, 1969, whereby unmarried dependent daughters are made eligible and entitled to receive family pension beyond the age of 21 years, there is no doubt that the petitioner is entitled to receive family pension from the date of the amendment, i.e., 09.08.2018.

14. Having considered the fair submissions of the learned counsel for the parties, that the petitioner would be entitled to family pension from the date of the notification, although the same was discontinued in 2016 upon her attaining the age of 21 years under the unamended Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969, and also considering that the State has also amended Rule 143, making unmarried dependent daughters eligible for family pension beyond 21 years, I am of the considered view that the petitioner is entitled to receive family pension from the date of issuance of the notification dated 09.08.2018, in accordance with the amendment of Rule 143 of the Assam Services (Pension) Rules, 1969.

15. In view of the above, this writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the respondent authorities to provide family pension to the petitioner in accordance with law. As the process may take a considerable time, it is directed that the respondent authorities to complete the process to allow the petitioner to draw the family pension w.e.f. 09.08.2018, within a period of 50 (fifty) days from today.

16. Writ petition stands allowed and disposed of.

JUDGE Comparing Assistant