44.1. For the purposes of section 44, a person who is receiving a pension under the Government and Public Employees Retirement Plan and who, taking into account the years and parts of a year giving entitlement to the increase provided by section 20 and the age at which he ceased to be employed, meets any of the criteria set out in section 19, is entitled to a pension computed in accordance with Division I of Chapter V instead of the pension he is presently receiving. The new pension shall be computed as though the said division had been in force on the date on which the pension he is receiving became payable to him.
The first paragraph applies in establishing the amount of the spouse’s pension referred to in sections 42 and 44 if it is paid under the Government and Public Employees Retirement Plan.