Over a quarter of a century after an IAF pilot was killed in a helicopter crash while rescuing German trekkers in the Himalayas, his widow has been granted a liberalised family pension, which is typically given to battle casualties, after judicial intervention by the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT).

In August 1999, Flight Lieutenant SK Pandey, a skilled helicopter pilot, was on a delicate mission at the request of the civilian administration to rescue German trekkers stranded in treacherous conditions in the Lahaul-Spiti region of Himachal Pradesh after a cloudburst.

The liberalised family pension, which is higher than an ordinary pension, was refused to the widow, Rakhi Pandey, by the authorities, despite the fact that the widow of the helicopter’s co-pilot had already been granted a liberalised pension based on similar orders by the AFT in 2023.

Two years after her husband’s demise, the central government in 2001 implemented the recommendations of the Fifth Central Pay Commission, wherein widows whose husbands had died in such missions were now entitled to a liberalised pension.

The orders were made applicable to all cases retrospectively, with effect from January 1996. However, the requisite pension was still not released to the officer’s widow due to the absence of a “battle casualty” certificate from the Air Force authorities.

After a long struggle, the Air Force authorities finally issued the “battle casualty” certificate to the widow, stating that she was now entitled to the liberalised pension, with effect from 1999.

The certificate issued by the Air Force was, however, rejected by the Joint Controller of Defence Accounts, who observed that the widow’s case did not fall within the policy for the grant of a liberalised pension.

Holding her fully entitled to the liberalised pension, the AFT’s Chandigarh Bench, comprising Justice Umesh Chandra Sharma and Air Marshal Manavendra Singh, held that the government circular of 2001, which was made applicable from January 1996, fully covered the circumstances of the late pilot’s death for the grant of the liberalised pension.

The AFT, based on law settled earlier by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, also observed that once there was a positive declaration by the Air Force authorities stating that the widow was covered under the rules for the grant of such benefits, then the Accounts Branch had no right to override such an opinion of the Air Force and that the job of the Accounts Branch was only to calculate the pension and release it, and not to overrule the findings of the competent authorities.