Widows’ and Orphans’ Pension Fund (Amendment) Act 2010

This Act may be cited as the Widows’ and Orphans’

Pension Fund (Amendment) Act, No. 8 of 2010.

Section 7 of the Widows’ and Orphans’ Pension Fund

Ordinance (Chapter 431) (hereinafter referred to as ‘the principal enactment’) is hereby repealed and the following section substituted therefor:—

7. (1) The Minister may make regulations in respect of all matters required by this Act to be prescribed or in respect of which regulations are authorized to be made under this Act.

Every regulation made by the Minister shall be published in the Gazette and shall come into operation on the date of such publication or on such later date as may be specified therein.

Every regulation shall, as soon as convenient after the publication in the Gazette, be brought before Parliament for approval. Any regulation which is not so approved shall deemed to be rescinded from the date of such disapproval but without prejudice to anything previously done thereunder.

Notification of the date in which any regulation made by the Minister is deemed to be rescinded shall be published in the

Section 13 of the principal enactment is hereby amended in subsection (2) of that section by the substitution for the words “contributor under this Ordinance”, of the following:—

“contributor under this Ordinance:

“Provided however any person who became a contributor under this Ordinance on or after the relevant date and who has completed ten years of service prior to the retirement or removal or otherwise leaves the public service without a pension in the manner referred to in subsection (1), shall be eligible to the benefits under subsection (1).”.

The following new sections are hereby inserted immediately after section 27 of the principal enactment, and shall have effect as section 27A and 27B of that enactment :—

27A. (1) Where any public officer who is a contributor to the Fund dies before reaching his age of retirement due to an act which constitutes an offence under any Emergency

Regulation for the time being in force, or due to any natural disaster, the widow and the children of such officer shall notwithstanding any other provisions of this Ordinance be entitled—

from the date of such death, to receive a pension calculated in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance, based on the salary such officer was drawing at the time of his death, till the date on which, had he lived, he would have reached his age of retirement; and

from and after the date on which he would have reached his age of retirement, to receive a pension calculated in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance based on the revised salary with all the increments to which, had he lived, he would have been entitled to receive till he reached his age of retirement.

In calculating the pension for the purpose of subsection (1), the age of retirement shall be determined by the Director-General of Pensions, taking into consideration the circumstances of the death of the officer concerned, his period of service and any other material particulars applicable to each individual case.

Where any person who is a male and who holds a temporary or casual post in the public service dies while in service, due to an act which constitutes an offence under the

from the date of such death, to receive a pension calculated in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance, based on the salary such person was drawing at the time of his death, till the date on which had he lived, he would reach fifty-five years of age;

from and after the date on which he would have reached fifty-five years of age, to receive a pension with all the increments, to which had he lived he would have been entitled to receive till he reached fifty-five years of age.

Any person to whom the provision of subsection (3) applies shall be deemed to be a contributor under the Ordinance as from the date he joined the public service.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Ordinance for the purpose of granting pension under this section, the officers referred to in subsection (1) and the persons referred to in subsection (3), of this section shall be deemed to have paid the contributions due to the Fund in full as at the date of their death.

For the purpose of this section—

who is specified in the Schedule GQ of the Minutes on Pensions; and

who is entitled to a pension on the completion of five years of service,

Section 29 of the principal enactment is hereby amended by the substitution for the words “or an unmarried female orphan” of the words “or a female orphan”.

Section 34 of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following new section is substituted therefor :—

34. (1) The widow of a contributor shall, on her remarriage, receive as pension after the date of such subsequent marriage—

half the amount of the pension which she was receiving at the time of such subsequent marriage; or

where she was entitled to receive a pension but was not in actual receipt of the same, half the amounts she was to receive in her capacity as a widow prior to such subsequent marriage.

The children of the first marriage of the widow shall receive the remaining portion of

Where the spouse of such subsequent marriage is also a contributor to the Fund and where such widow becomes entitled to receive a pension upon the death of such spouse in respect of the contributions made to the Fund by such spouse, the payment of such amount as she was receiving as pension in terms of paragraphs (a) and (b) of subsection (1) shall be terminated with effect from the date of death of such spouse of such subsequent marriage:

Section 43 of the principal enactment is hereby amended as follows:—

by renumbering that section as subsection (1)

by the addition of the following new subsection immediately after the renumbered subsection (1), thereof:—

Section 51A of the principal enactment is hereby repealed and the following section substituted therefor:—

51A. Where a public officer—

who becomes contributor on or after the relevant date; and

who is not a bachelor, leaves the public service, he shall not be granted a refund of the entirety or part of his contributions if he is not eligible for a pension under the Minutes on Pensions. However if he had completed ten or more years of such service before leaving the service, his widow or orphans shall upon his death be entitled to a pension on the basis of the contributions made by him calculated in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance.

The provisions of subsection (1) of section 27A shall mutatis mutandis apply to the widow and children of any public officer who had been a contributor to the Fund and had died before the date of coming into operation of this Act, under the circumstances specified in the aforesaid subsection.

The provisions of subsection (3) of section 27A shall mutatis mutandis apply to the widow and children of any person who is a male and had held a temporary or casual post in the public service and had died while in service, before the date of coming into operation of this Act under the circumstances specified in the aforesaid subsection.

Any person to whom the provisions of subsection (2)

For the purpose of granting a pension under subsections (1) and (2) of this section, the officers referred to in subsection (1) and the persons referred to in subsection (2) of this section shall be deemed to have paid all contributions due to the Fund from them, in full, as at the date of death of each such person.

Any widow or any child or children of any officer or person referred to in section 9 of this Act shall, on or before the date to be appointed by the Minister by Order published in the Gazette shall forward their claims to the Director-General in such form as may be prescribed and issued by the

Director-General.

The provisions of sections 6, 7 and 8 of this Act shall be deemed to have come into effect as from the date on which the principal enactment came into operation.

In the event of any inconsistency between the

Sinahla and Tamil texts of this Act, the Sinhala text shall prevail.