A disabled sibling/child of a central government employee or pensioner is eligible to seek family pension if their income is less than that of the entitled family pension at an ordinary rate i.e. 30 per cent of the last drawn payment by the deceased government servant/ pensioner. Earlier, any family member including a disabled child/suffering was deemed to be earning their livelihood if their income from other sources was equal to more than the minimum family pension Rs 9,000 plus the admissible dearness allowance. However, in February this year, the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DOPPW-India) relaxed the norms to include disabled members who need more care and medical support.
“Presently, a member of the family, including a child/sibling suffering from a disability, is deemed to be earning his livelihood, if his/her income from sources other than a family pension, is equal to or more than the minimum family pension that is Rs 9,000 and the Dearness Relief (DR) admissible thereon,” DOPPW-India said in a statement earlier this year.
According to Rule 54(6) of the CCS Rules (1956), a child or sibling of a deceased government employee is entitled to a pension if their physical or mental capabilities make them incapable of earning their livelihood. A large chunk of these people was left outside the benefit net because of the previous criteria and this relaxation in rules came as a relief to many
“Instructions issued to liberlise the income criteria for eligibility of a child/sibling of a deceased government servant or pensioner for grant of family pension under CCS (Pension) Rules”, DOPPW said.
The relaxation offered under this rule change was implemented prospectively and no arrears from the date of death was admissible.
Meanwhile, the central government employees and pensioners also received the benefit of the Dearness Allowance (DA) and Dearness Relief (DR) hike under the rules of the 7th Pay commission rules recently. The DA of central government employees and pensioners are generally increased twice a year, but the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic situation had forced the government to stop the hikes temporarily. After over a year, the hikes were finally implemented and the existing DA rates were upped to 28 per cent from 17 per cent. The 11 per cent hike was for the period January 2020 to January 2021 and the government is yet to announce the hike for January to June 2021 period.
The hikes were applied from July 1 2021 and came as a huge relief for over 50 lakhs pension holders and current employees.
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