Defence Pensioners

Special Family Pension

Special family pension is granted to the NOK of deceased Army personnel when cause of his death due to injury or diseases accepted is as attributable to aggravated by military service. Covered under category ‘B’ & ‘C’ in terms of GOI, MOD letter dt. 31.01.2001.
Special Family pension is not tenable in the types of cases mentioned below:-

If the individual has outlived the normal span of life i.e. if he dies at the age of 60 years or above.
Suicide Cases
If the individual was discharged in Medical category AYE and his death occurs after 10 years period from the date of discharge.
Missing Cases.

Rate of Special Family Pension

It will be calculated at the uniform rate of 60% of Reckonable Emoluments ( pay including classification allowance, stagnation increment if any last drawn ) subject to a minimum of Rs 7000/- p.m. irrespective of whether widow has child(ren) or not. There shall be no maximum ceiling on Special Family Pension.
In case when children become the beneficiary, the Special Family Pension at the same rate (i.e. 60% of Reckonable Emoluments) shall be admissible to the senior most eligible child till he/she attains the age of 25 years or upto the date of his/her marriage whichever is earlier. Thereafter Special Family pension shall pass on to the next eligible child.

Period of Grant

It depends on the relationship of the pensioner with the deceased soldier as under:

Heir	Period
Widow	till her widowhood
Son	till 25 years of his age or up to the date of his marriage whichever is earlier
Daughter	till 25 years of her age or up to the date of her marriage whichever is earlier.
Son (if cripple)	for life or marriage or earns his livelihood which ever is earlier
Daughter (if cripple)	for life. But if she gets married or earns livelihood the pension will be stopped
Father (50 years of age and above)	for life

Special Family Pension

Handicapped / Mentally retarded children: Conditions and Period of Grant

Such children are eligible to get family pension for life. The claim should be supported with a medical certificate furnished by a medical officer not below the rank of civil surgeon showing the percentage of disability and that he / she is unable to earn his livelihood due to that disability

if there are more than one such son or daughter suffering from disorder/disability the family pension shall be payable in the following order:

Firstly to the son, and if there are more than one son, the younger of them will get the family pension only after the lifetime of the elder.
Secondly to the daughter and if there are more than one daughter, the younger of them will get the family pension only after the lifetime of the elder. A daughter shall be ineligible for family pension from the date she gets married

Special Family Pension : Division of

The award of Special Family Pension is for the benefit of the entire family. If the recipient of a special family pension refuses to contribute proportionately towards the support of other eligible heirs in the family who were dependant on the deceased soldier or if the pension is in the name of person who is not devoted to the interest of the family a competent authority may on the basis of the investigation report rendered by the Recruiting Organisation, divide at his discretion the family pension among eligible heirs.

The competent authority may order similar division at the time of initial grant if its found that the nominated heir is not living with other eligible heir or is not willing to contribute based on the initial investigation.

The division shall hold good only for the period during which the pension is payable to the original recipient under the regulations governing its grant.

If during this period, one of the parties of the division (other than original recipient) is disqualified or dies his or her share shall be restored to the original recipient if he or she is the only one living or shall be divided among the remaining recipients if there are more than one.

Special Family Pension : Transfer of

When for any cause, a family pension ceases to be payable to an heir other than the widow, it shall be transferred to the widow provided she is not disqualified.

Special Family Pension: Second Life Award

Second life award shall be admissible the parents of the deceased irrespective of single or both and in the absence of the parents to the eligible brothers and sisters of the deceased at the rate equal to 50% of Notional Special Family Pension that would have been admissible as par para 5.2 to Govt. letter dt.31-1-01 (i.e.60% of reckonable emoluments). The senior most brother /sisters of the deceased, at a time will be granted award up to their 25 years of age or marriage whichever is earlier. The second life award will be granted from the date of application.

Special Family Pension on Remarriage of Widow

If S.F.P. is Sanctioned to the widow-

(a)	If widow has children and continues to support them after remarriage	Full Special Family pension to continue to widow
( b)	If she does not support children after remarriage	ordinary Family Pension equal to 30% of emoluments last drawn to the remarried widow 50% of S.F.P.to the eligible children.
(c)	If widow has no children	Full SFP to continue to widow

Where 1st life award is sanctioned to parents

a)	If widow continues to support children after remarriage or has no issues	(i) 50% of S.F.P. to parents (ii) 50% of S.F.P. to widow
(b)	If widow does not support children after remarriage are supported by the parents	(i) Full S.F.P. to parents (ii) O.F.P. to widow
(c)	If children are not supported either by the remarried widow or the parents	(i) 50% S.F.P. to parents (ii) 50% S.F.P. to eligible children (iii) O.F.P. to widow
(d)	On death or disqualification of parents and the widow supports the children or has no issues	Full S.F.P. to widow
(e)	On death or disqualification of parents and the widow does not support the children	(i) Full S.F.P. to eligible children (ii) O.F.P. to widow