Madras High Court: While considering an interesting issue that whether the second wife of the deceased government employee is entitled to claim the family pension without production of her marriage certificate, the bench of Hariparanthaman, J., held that the petitioner (wife) is entitled to claim the family pension without requiring to present her marriage certificate before the concerned authorities if she proves herself to be the heir of the deceased.
The petitioner challenged the impugned Order by the respondent refusing her to claim the family pension. The counsel for the petitioner, R.Sunder Srinivasan contended that the petitioner, although the second wife of the deceased, had married him lawfully after the death of the deceased’s first wife therefore the respondent is not justified in refusing to grant family pension to the petitioner.
The Court on perusing the facts of the case observed that the petitioner has proved her eligibility as the heir of the deceased by producing documents like the death certificate of her husband and the birth certificate of her child, therefore the respondent is not justified in refusing the family pension to the petitioner as per the pension rules applicable to TANGDECO by making the production of the marriage certificate as a condition precedent to the grant of family pension. The Court directed the respondent to pay the family pension along with the due arrears to the petitioner, within eight weeks from the date of issuance of the Order. [G Pushpam v. Superintending Engineer, W.P(MD)No. 17926 of 2015, decided on 20.11.2015]