SC urge Centre, IAF to liberalise definition of mother to include step-mother for family pension

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday batted for liberal interpretation of word "mother" to include step-mothers too in grant of benefits under social welfare schemes including family pension.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan and N Kotiswar Singh told the Centre and the Indian Air Force (IAF) that the definition of mother in regulations needed to be liberalised to include step-mother as well.

"We need to liberalise the word 'mother'. It should include the word of step-mother as well especially when it comes to grant of benefits under social welfare schemes including family pension. Step-mother is de-facto mother," the bench said.

The top court was hearing a plea of a woman, who raised her stepson after his biological mother died, and was seeking family pension.

Justice Kant asked the Centre's counsel if a month-old child’s mother passes away and the father remarries, would the step mother be not considered as the actual mother.

"In law you may say her as step-mother, but she is actually de-facto mother as right from the first day, she devoted her life to the child," Justice Kant said.

The counsel, however, referred to regulations of Indian Air Force, saying the definition of mother did not include step-mother.

Justice Kant asked the counsel for the Centre to consider adopting a flexible approach to include step-mother’s claim for pension or any beneficial claim.

"For that purpose, this definition has to be liberalised," the court said.

In April, the top court said it would examine whether a stepmother can be considered for family pension under the Indian Air Force rules, saying "mother is a very wide term".

It questioned the IAF's decision to deny family pension to a woman, who raised her stepson since the age of six and said the regulations are not constitutional mandates.

"'Mother' is a very wide term," the bench then said, pointing out nowadays, it was not the biological mother alone who raised a child.

The IAF counsel said top court's judgments had interpreted the word stepmother and there were well-established criterion under the regulations on those eligible for family pension.

The woman challenged the December 10, 2021, decision of the Armed Forces Tribunal denying the family pension after her son, who was in the air force, passed away.

On July 19 last year, the top court agreed to hear the plea and issued notice to the Centre and the Air Force.