Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (SHP)

New Delhi, Jun 27: A plea was submitted to the railways by a 32-year-old, who underwent a sex-change operation years ago to become a woman. The letter is in regard to the pension she is eligible for since the death of her father in 2017, a retired railway employee.

According to the pension laws, sons over 25 years are not in any position to claim the pension. However, no restriction as such has been placed on the daughter, given she is unmarried and a dependent. The eligibility will be only when the employee’s wife has also passed away, stated an official.

The claim on the pension by the daughter has put the railways in a fix. The officials are finding it difficult to tackle the case as no such incident has ever occurred. The letter was received by the Chennai-based Southern Railway in the year 2018. Since then, it has been sent over to the Ministry of Personnel, Pensions and Public Grievances and the fepartment of Personnel and Training.

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“There is no precedence of a case like this in the 160-year history of Indian Railways. And since government policy on this is not quite clear, we could not address the matter at our levels,” said the senior Divisional Personnel Officer of the division.

“She furnished an identity card issued by the Tamil Nadu Transgender Welfare Association issued in 2009 so we treated the matter as a transgender case. But even then, the law is either silent or at best unclear,” said a senior central government official.

The case has been taken up and discussed in the divisional levels, zonal levels and the headquarters in Delhi. In a comment, one of the officials stated that the department of Personnel Training will be able to provide an understanding on the case for it is the nodal office in matters which deal with family pensions in the central government.