ups_00487 — The first wife of an employee, having been divorced, the second wife is entitled to all benefits such as family pension, benefits due to the death of the employee while in service, retiral benefits, etc.

The first wife of an employee, having been divorced, the second wife is entitled to all benefits such as family pension, benefits due to the death of the employee while in service, retiral benefits, etc. — This chunk is a part of a legal case O.A. No. 517 of 2011, where the second wife of an employee who died while in service at Ammunition Factory Khadki is claiming family pension and other retirement ... — Facts: The Applicant, second wife of the deceased, Shaikh Salim Abdul Karim who was an employee of Ammunition Factory Khadki, had filed this OA claiming the benefit of family pension and other retiral benefits being heir to the abovesaid deceased employee while in service. The husband of the Applicant, namely, Shaikh Abdul Karim who was an employee of Ammunition Factory, Khadki died on 28-1-2010 while in service. He divorced his first wife Shaheen and the Applicant, second wife of the deceased employee prays for all benefits accrued to her husband. Even though the first wife states that she was not divorced by the deceased employee, the Applicant, the second wife of the deceased had produced nomination to her for DCRG, dated 20-7-2004 which was also admitted to have been received by the official Respondents. Nomination for family pension in favour of the second wife, dated 3-11-2006 is also produced by the Applicant. That nomination, dated 3-11-2006 also includes three children born to the first wife but retained by the deceased employee after divorcing his first wife. The Applicant also produced another document, dated 20-7-2004 which requested for deletion of the name of the first wife from service records. The Talaknama with first wife is also produced. The required documents are also produced by the Applicant for the final settlement due to her deceased husband. Thus the Court found valid nominations in favour of the Applicant Afsar for the purpose of family pension, DCRG, Provident Fund and Government Group Insurance, all separately. It is also seen that the deceased employee had informed the office about his second marriage six years before his death. The first wife, even though she claims to be the wife of the deceased employee and her marriage was not legally dissolved, she was neither able to explain as to how she supports her stand of still being legally married wife nor the stand as to how the nomination of the deceased employee in favour of the Applicant may be ignored. The reliance of the R-5 namely, the reported first wife of the deceased employee is distinguishable for the reason that the present case will be governed by the customary Muslim law and also by the fact that it is not a case to settle the succession claim. Hence the relied upon case by her, namely, Vidhyadhari and others v. Sukhrana Bai and others, [2008 (1) SCC (L&S) 451 ] does not come to her rescue. The relied upon case by R-5, namely Dagdu Chotu Pathan v. Rahimbai Dagdu Pathan and others [ 2002 (3) Mh. L.J. 604 ] is also distinguishable from the present case as the judgment in that case does not negate the fact of Talak by itself. In the present case, the fact that Talak as per customary Muslim law cannot be ignored. It is also noted that the first nomination was duly cancelled and a fresh nomination was filled separately for DCRG, Pension, Provident Fund and Group Insurance benefits by the employee along with documents of divorce, Nikahnama with second wife prior to his death. The claim by the Applicant is for family pension , all retiral benefits arising in natural course, such as DCRG and other benefits arising out of the end of service of her husband due to his death. After studying the above points, it was held: