2nd wife not entitled to dead husband's pension: HC

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday said that a second wife is not entitled to receive her deceased husband's pension in cases where the second marriage had taken place without legal dissolution of the first one.

A division bench of Justices S J Kathawalla and Milind Jadhav dismissed a petition filed by Solapur resident Shamal Tate, challenging the state government's decision denying her pension benefits. As per the High Court order, Tate's husband Mahadeo, a peon in the office of the Solapur district collector, died in 1996.

Mahadeo was already married to another woman when he married the petitioner. After his death, Tate and Mahadeo's first wife came to an agreement that the former would receive almost 90 per cent of the deceased's retirement benefits, while the latter would get the monthly pension.

However, after Mahadeo's first wife died of cancer, Tate wrote to the state government seeking that she be given Mahadeo's pension dues henceforth. — PTI