MUMBAI: More than 56 years after Lieutenant Commander Satish Tipnis died in a road accident in Delhi, the Bombay High Court has ruled that his widow was eligible for special family pension (SFP) and his two sons were eligible for a special child care allowance from the time of their death until they turn 18.

A division bench of Justice BP Colabawalla and Justice Somasekhar Sundaresan recently upheld the order passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) in Mumbai on March 28, 2023, that Usha Menon (Tipnis), widow of the officer in deceased Marine, was eligible for SFP. from the date of the accident, and Arun Tipnis and Vikram Tipnis, their sons, for special child allowance.

Satish Tipnis died in a road accident on August 11, 1968, while on his way from the Naval Headquarters to his official residence. Usha Menon, his widow, who remarried in 1972, filed an initial application in January 2020. The court ruled that Menon was entitled to SFP three years before the initial application was filed, i.e. from January 2017, due to prescription. While Arun was entitled to a special allowance for children from the date of the accident till he turned 18, Vikram was entitled to a special allowance from December 15, 1968 till the date of his majority. The Tribunal ordered the Center to calculate and pay the arrears of the trio and continue paying pension to Menon.

The central government had challenged this order mainly on two grounds. First, Tipnis did not die while carrying out his duty and he was traveling in a private, not official, vehicle at the time of the accident. The high court noted that Navy order no. 08/03 states that a member of the Navy traveling by a reasonable route from his or her official residence to and from the designated place of duty would be considered to be on duty regardless of the mode of transportation or whether it was provided by the government or private mode. transport.

Secondly, the widow would not be entitled to SFP since she remarried in 1972. The 63rd regulation of the Navy Pension Rules, 1964, prohibits payment of SFP in case of remarriage of the wife after the accidental death of a member of the Navy. To this, the High Court noted that in January 2001, following the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, the central government had changed its policy regarding pensions to remarried widows. This ruling states that widows of commissioned widows would be entitled to the full SFP, if they continue to support their children after remarriage, and that Menon was therefore entitled to the SFP.

The High Court found no merit in these objections and upheld the order of the Tribunal. “We find that there is no reason to interfere with the AFT’s impugned order. We find this to be a well-reasoned order,” the court said. s