Top court awards family pension to second wife who took care of hubby
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:06.03.2020
A five-year-old fight for family pension between two wives of a deceased Sikkim government servant ended with a surprising result in the Supreme Court, which validated the man’s second marriage during subsistence of his first marriage and entitled the second wife to receive family pension.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Naveen Sinha upheld the validity of the second marriage as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956, was enforced in Sikkim only from May 1, 1989, two years after the government servant married for a second time. It also found that the man had exclusively nominated the second wife as the recipient of family pension as she took care of him during illness.
One Ram Chandra Nirola had married Tulsa Devi and had two children, who are adults now. During subsistence of the first marriage, Nirola married Radha on May 9, 1987, and had three children with her.
In 2008, he executed a settlement deed dividing moveable and immoveable properties between the two wives before his retirement on May 30, 2009. He died on April 13, 2015. The first wife wanted a share of the family pension but was denied. She moved the SC after losing her case in the high court.
Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Sinha said, “The deceased was exclusively taken care of by Radha during his illness, including the expenditure incurred on his treatment. In view of the statutory rules, it is not possible to accept the argument that Radha was nominated only for purpose of receipt of family pension and per force was required to share it equally with Tulsa Devi.”
Full report on www.toi.in
Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com
New Delhi:06.03.2020
A five-year-old fight for family pension between two wives of a deceased Sikkim government servant ended with a surprising result in the Supreme Court, which validated the man’s second marriage during subsistence of his first marriage and entitled the second wife to receive family pension.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Naveen Sinha upheld the validity of the second marriage as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956, was enforced in Sikkim only from May 1, 1989, two years after the government servant married for a second time. It also found that the man had exclusively nominated the second wife as the recipient of family pension as she took care of him during illness.
One Ram Chandra Nirola had married Tulsa Devi and had two children, who are adults now. During subsistence of the first marriage, Nirola married Radha on May 9, 1987, and had three children with her.
In 2008, he executed a settlement deed dividing moveable and immoveable properties between the two wives before his retirement on May 30, 2009. He died on April 13, 2015. The first wife wanted a share of the family pension but was denied. She moved the SC after losing her case in the high court.
Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Sinha said, “The deceased was exclusively taken care of by Radha during his illness, including the expenditure incurred on his treatment. In view of the statutory rules, it is not possible to accept the argument that Radha was nominated only for purpose of receipt of family pension and per force was required to share it equally with Tulsa Devi.”
Full report on www.toi.in
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