MADURAI: Calling an order passed by the state government to provide pension to unmarried, divorced or widowed daughters of government employees as 'discriminative' for not extending the benefit to deserted women who are also similarly placed, the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court recently granted relief to a 53-year-old deserted woman whose application seeking family pension under the G.O. was rejected by the authorities.
The woman, A Jasintha from Pudukkottai, was deserted by her husband, a Sri Lankan, in 2007 and has been living with her parents since then. Her father Adaikalasamy used to work as a PG assistant and had been receiving a pension till his death in May 2019. Her mother Mary was paid a family pension, which was stopped following her death in April 2020. Jasintha, who had been relying on her parents financially, made an application for family pension but it was rejected by the authorities in June 2023 citing that the G.O. concerned permits payment of the pension only to unmarried, divorced or widowed daughters and that a deserted daughter is not eligible. Challenging the rejection, Jasintha moved the HC.
Justice L Victoria Gowri, who heard her plea, said, "The impugned rejection order has served as a severe blow on the life and livelihood of the petitioner subjecting her to abject poverty and dismay. Having no one to take care of her, it is the state's responsibility to save her existence."
She noted that a quick review of the G.O., which was passed on November 28, 2011, would reveal that it failed to cover 'deserted women'. Though various social security schemes of the state almost covered grandmothers, mothers and daughters, the young and middle aged women are left in lurch, she observed. "When the object sought to be achieved is to extend the benefit of family pension to destitute daughters, the classification of daughters into unmarried daughters/widowed daughters/divorced daughters, thereby excluding the benefit of family pension to deserted daughters, who would fall under the category of destitute, is arbitrary and discriminative," the judge held.
She went on to suggest that the social stigma and isolation faced by single deserted women have to be done consciously by a systemic and rational approach in empowering them. In a democratic country like India, it is the most significant duty of a state to protect its women, especially deserted women, she added.
She therefore quashed the rejection order and remitted the application back to the authorities by directing them to interpret the G.O. liberally and sanction the family pension to Jasintha within three months.