MUMBAI, May 10 -- The dependent parents of a deceased, unmarried government employee are entitled to family pension, the Bombay high court has ruled. "We sincerely believe that if dependent parents have to keep their mind, body and soul together, law must ensure that they receive pension for sustenance," said a division bench of justices Ravindra Ghuge and Ashwin Bhobe, while directing the Maharashtra government to clear the family pension proposal of a septuagenarian couple from Akola, who lost their son in 2008. In their petition, Vasantrao Deshmukh, 75, and his wife Snehalata, 75, claimed they were denied family pension after their unmarried son died due to a snake bite while working at a tribal school in 2008. Two years later, the petitioners approached the project officer of the local government authority for family pension. However, in November 2010, the authorities informed the petitioners that the biological parents of a deceased state government employee are not eligible for family pension. The advocates for the petitioners pointed out a government resolution (GR) dated January 22, 2015, issued by the state finance department, which said that family pension should be granted to "wholly dependent parents of a deceased single government servant". The state government, however, opposed the petition, contending that the biological parents of a deceased single government employee are not covered under the definition of family under the Maharashtra Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1982. It added that the GR could not be applied retrospectively. After hearing both sides, the bench ruled that the couple was eligible to receive family pension, saying the GR was issued with a laudable objective to achieve social security for helpless aged parents....