LAHORE: The Lahore High Court ordered on Friday the federal government to come up with a comprehensive solution to harmonise the rules that prejudiced rights of unmarried daughters to claim pension of deceased father.

Justice Shahid Jamil Khan was hearing a petition by Zakia Shaukat challenging a decision by the Combined Military Accounts (CMA), Lahore, which declared the eldest sister cannot surrender her right in favour of the younger sister/petitioner.

In compliance with the court’s earlier order, the controller of the military accounts filed a report accepting the viewpoint of the petitioner and undertook that her grievance would be addressed.

However, the judge observed that section 8(2)(a) of Civil Servants Family Pension Rules was required to be rationalised as it prima facie was discriminatory as it treated two similarly placed unmarried daughters differently which was a clear violation of fundamental rights as guaranteed under the constitution.

Petitioner’s counsel Taffazul Haider Rizvi said that justice demanded that in addition to the petitioner, the court should also redress the plight of all such disadvantaged women who had been denied pension of their deceased father.

Justice Khan fixed the matter for Jan 10, 2018 with a direction that petitioner’s pension case be processed by the next hearing and the federation apprise the court as how to harmonise section 8(2)(a)(iii) of the pension rules being ultra vires the constitution.

Syed Shaukat Hussain was a pensioner of the Military Estate Services (MES) Department who passed away in 2015.

Advocate Rizvi said from Mr Hussain’s legal heirs two of his daughters, including the petitioner, were unmarried, but according to Pension Rules for Civil Servants Family Pension Rules only eldest unmarried daughter (till her marriage or death) was entitled to pension.

He said the petitioner and her eldest sister were unmarried, therefore, both entitled to get the pension of their father. He said the eldest sister, out of her love and affection, surrendered her right in favour of petitioner (Zakia) and the office of the commander of the MES, Rawalpindi, forwarded the matter to Lahore. However, he said, the CMA, Lahore, raised an objection that elder sister could not surrender her right in favour of petitioner.

The counsel argued that the section 8(2)(a)(iii) of the Family Pension was arbitrary and against the fundamental rights of the petitioner as tantamount to illegal classification.

Published in Dawn, December 16th, 2017