55 years after her IAF pilot husband died in crash, woman gets pension

The widow of an ace Air Force pilot, who died in a plane crash in service, had to wait over five decades after her husband's death to get the pension due to her, in an incident underscoring government apathy towards families of martyred soldiers.

Kamla Lowe, now 95, was fighting for the special family pension, which is given to widows of officers and men who died in service while carrying out their duties. A military court finally gave her justice.

Squadron Leader JM Lowe was a test pilot in the Air Force on deputation with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and died on June 19, 1962 in a flying accident. His widow with her four-year-old child had been fighting since then for the dues.

THE INCIDENT

The accident occurred 55 years ago in Bengaluru while the pilot was test-flying the Gnat aircraft, which developed severe mechanical failure witnessed as "violent pitch oscillations" prior to delivery to the IAF.

"Despite the fact that the officer's widow is entitled to special family pension, the government in September 2004 rejected her appeal by giving an illogical reason that under the terms of deputation the applicant had already availed the benefits of insurance," Lowe's counsel Wing Commander Ajay Bhalla told Mail Today.

Kamla Lowe also had to wait nine years for getting the ordinary pension and had to suffer a lot because of the lack of it, her husband's case revealed.

The lady had also been fruitlessly writing letters to various authorities concerned to get her dues from the government.

The government countered her by saying that she could not be given the special pension as her husband had opted for an insurance scheme before his death and also opposed the plea in the Armed Forces Tribunal, saying that she had come for justice after 55 years and her plea should dismissed on the basis of delay in approaching the court.

The government also told the court that finding papers of the family pension granted to the widow of the officer and documents related to his deputation to HAL also could not be found as the matter was very old.

"Pained" by the sufferings of the IAF officer's widow, the tribunal bench headed by Chairperson Justice Virendra Singh said, "Apart from the awful trauma of losing her husband, and having to bring up her four-year-old child, all alone, we observe that for almost nine years this widow was not even granted the basic right of ordinary family pension." The chairperson in his order said the terms and conditions of that insurance (opted for by the martyred pilot) "are not before us".

"However, it would be pertinent to mention that no insurance scheme can take away the right of pension of a serviceman, and therefore, consequently the widow," he said.

The court said the government has to deal fairly with its workforce as "employees cannot be asked to sign undertakings contrary to law."

Ruling in favour of the elderly lady, the court said, "We find no impediment in the applicant being granted Special Family Pension as prayed for. Her plea is allowed and the impugned order rejecting the claim of the applicant for Special Family Pension is hereby set aside."

ARREARS

The court also awarded the arrears of three years to the applicant and asked the government to comply with the order in the next three months. Sources say ever since Justice Singh took over as chairperson of the AFT, the military court has become vibrant and cases are getting disposed off swiftly.

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