Dependent family pension pending since 2020: Why pensioner body is seeking intervention in widow’s case over missing death certificate

Bharat Pensioners Samaj (BPS) has reminded the Principal Chief Personnel Officer (PCPO), South Eastern Railway, to resolve the issue of Mita Biswas, whose dependent family pension claim has been pending since 2020 because she is unable to produce the death certificate of her brother.

The BPS, which has a large number of central government pensioners, says it has already written to the PCPO on August 4, 2026, seeking intervention in Mita’s case. The BPS says that it has also raised the issue through CPENGRAMS, the government's pension grievance system, and also at the government’s Special Campaign 3.0 for resolving long-pending pension grievances, but to no avail.

Why Mita’s dependent family pension claim is pending for six years

Explaining the case to ET Wealth Online, Mihir Baran Chatterjee, general secretary, Uttarpara Central Govt Pensioners' Association, West Bengal, who has forwarded Mita’s case to the BPS, said-

Mita’s father was a Railway employee who died years ago. Mita is a widow, and she applied for dependent family pension in the office of the Principal CPO, South Eastern Railway, in 2020, when her mother, who was getting family pension at that time, died.

When Mita approached the PCPO, they asked Mita to submit a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from all her siblings as a requirement to get the dependent family pension. She got the NOC from all her siblings except for her one brother, who and whose wife had died during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in the year 2020. When Mita informed the PCPO about her brother’s death, the authorities asked her to submit her brother’s death certificate. Her brother's death certificate could not be made available despite intensive enquiry and search with the local authorities. Since no one could attend their funeral ceremony because of the pandemic, the cremation certificate was also not available. Her brother was not a legitimate claimant of the pension, which had already been certified by the local authorities. Mita has time and again informed the PCPO about her case, but it is not issuing the dependent family pension without the death certificate.

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What BPS claims in its letter to PCPO, South Eastern Railway

The BPS says that neither the claimant nor the association that had forwarded Mita’s case have been approached for any clarification or additional document or information by the pension sanctioning authorities.

“Nor has any meaningful communication been made indicating the present status or the specific impediment preventing settlement of the claim,” BPS secretary general Avinash Rajput writes in the letter.

“The repeated practice of merely forwarding the grievance to the same pension sanctioning authority, which in turn reiterates the earlier requirement, has effectively resulted in a closed and repetitive grievance-referral cycle without any substantive examination or resolution,” the BPS writes in its letter.

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What BPS wants pension authorities to do in Mita’s case

The BPS asks the authorities to make a formal decision and, if Mita is found eligible for dependent family pension, the BPS seeks pension plus all admissible arrears for her. It has a seven-point demand from the PCPO, South Eastern Railway, for Mita.

1. The complete case may be personally reviewed at an appropriate senior level instead of being routinely referred back to the same authority which has already failed to resolve it.
2. The claimant and/or the concerned association may immediately be informed of the precise deficiency or procedural impediment, if any, still coming in the way of settlement of the claim.
3. The exceptional circumstances relating to the death of the claimant’s elder brother during the COVID-19 pandemic may be duly taken into consideration, and reasonable alternative/corroborative evidence may be accepted in lieu of the unavailable death certificate, wherever permissible.
4. The eligibility of Mita Biswas may be examined independently on the basis of the applicable family pension rules and the available evidence, rather than allowing the absence of one document relating to a person who was not himself a legitimate claimant to indefinitely block the claim.
5. If any relaxation, clarification or approval of the competent authority is required, the same should be processed at the appropriate level without further delay.
6. The family pension, along with all admissible arrears, may be sanctioned at the earliest through a reasoned and speaking order.
7. A definite Action Taken Report (ATR) should be furnished to Bharat Pensioners Samaj, with a copy to the Uttarpara Central Government Pensioners’ Association and the claimant, indicating the present status of the case and the action proposed for its final settlement.