ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Wednesday ruled that a daughter’s entitlement to her late father’s pension is a legal right, irrespective of her marital status.
The landmark judgment, which favors divorced daughters, emphasized that a government employee’s pension is a constitutional entitlement and cannot be denied based on marital status.
Justice Ayesha Malik delivered the 10-page verdict, declaring that pensions are not a charity but a legal right. The ruling further stated that women’s pension eligibility should be determined by their financial need, not their marital status.
The court’s judgment struck down a 2022 circular issued by the Sindh government, which denied pensions to divorced daughters, calling it discriminatory and unconstitutional. It also expressed deep concern over Pakistan’s poor global ranking in gender equality.
The case was brought by a divorced daughter, Sorath Fatima, who had sought the resumption of her late father’s pension. Fatima’s father, an employee of Sindh’s Road and Transport Department, passed away in 2002, and her mother received his pension until her death in 2012. Fatima, as an unmarried daughter, initially received the pension, which was later ceased after she got married.
Following her divorce in August 2022, Fatima requested the resumption of her pension, which the Sindh government rejected. The provincial government issued a circular stating that a daughter who got divorced after her father’s demise would not be entitled to his pension.
Fatima challenged the decision at the Larkana Bench of the Sindh High Court, which ruled in her favor. The Sindh government then challenged the ruling at the Supreme Court, which dismissed the appeal, reaffirming that a divorced daughter’s right to the pension is not dependent on the timing of her divorce.
The Supreme Court ruling noted that the Sindh government’s circular, which added restrictions not supported by the law, was void and unconstitutional. The judgment emphasized that the timing of the pensioner’s death cannot be used to extinguish a surviving daughter’s right to claim the pension.
The court also criticized the assumption that a daughter’s entitlement to a pension should depend on her marital status, stating that this approach reflects a patriarchal model. The judgment pointed out that this dependency model treats women as financial dependents, shifting their dependency from their father to their spouse, and fails to recognize women as financially autonomous individuals.
The ruling further emphasized that women’s rights, including access to family pensions, should be based on financial need, not marital status, and urged a reconsideration of pension laws to reflect this principle.
The court noted that Pakistan, as a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), is required to abolish discriminatory laws that hinder women’s rights.
