ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that a daughter’s entitlement to her late father’s pension is based on legal right, not marital status, delivering a landmark judgment in favour of divorced daughters.
Justice Ayesha Malik issued the 10-page verdict, declaring that a government employee’s pension is a legal entitlement, not charity, and that women’s pension eligibility should be determined by financial need, not marriage status.
The court struck down a 2022 Sindh government circular that denied pensions to divorced daughters, calling it discriminatory and unconstitutional, and observed that Pakistan’s poor global ranking in gender equality is “deeply concerning.”
The petitioner, a divorced daughter, had sought resumption of her late father’s pension. The Larkana Bench of the Sindh High Court had ruled in her favor, a decision the Sindh government challenged in the Supreme Court.Dismissing the appeal, the Supreme Court upheld the High Court’s ruling, noting that pension is a constitutional and legal right, and linking it to marital status violates Articles 9, 14, 25, and 27 of the Constitution.
The judgment further stated that government circulars cannot override the law by adding illegal conditions, and delaying rightful pension amounts to injustice. The court also criticized the failure to view women as financially autonomous, calling it a violation of constitutional principles.
