LUCKNOW: The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has ruled that an unmarried sister is legally

LUCKNOW — The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court has ruled that an unmarried sister is legally entitled to receive a family pension following the death of a government employee, setting aside a previous administrative rejection.

Passing the order on a petition filed by Shameen Khan, Justice Manish Kumar directed the Principal Secretary of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies to disburse all pension arrears along with six percent annual interest. The interest is to be calculated from the date of the employee’s death on May 15, 2024, until the actual date of payment.

The ruling addresses a recurring legal friction between statutory service provisions and subordinate administrative directives in Uttar Pradesh. The court held that statutory service rules framed under Article 309 of the Constitution cannot be altered, restricted, or rendered ineffective through executive orders or government resolutions (shasanadesh).

According to the petitioner, her late brother had officially nominated her for the family pension in his service record. However, her claim was rejected by authorities on December 5, 2025. That denial relied on a government order issued on December 23, 2016, which asserted that an unmarried sister fell outside the official definition of a deceased employee’s family.

The high court dismantled that administrative position by pointing to Rule 3(5) of the Uttar Pradesh Retirement Benefits Rules, 1961. The governing 1961 statutory rules explicitly include both unmarried and widowed sisters within the definition of family. Furthermore, the state government did not contest in its submissions that the petitioner is indeed the unmarried sister of the deceased employee.

The Principal Secretary of the Department of Food and Civil Supplies is now tasked with ensuring compliance with the arrears and interest disbursement.