'Second wife can't avail pension of hubby for taking care of family'

CHENNAI: Justice SM Subramaniam of Madras High Court ruled that taking care of the children born to the first wife and her husband cannot be the ground for the second wife to claim the pay and pension benefits after the death of the husband.

The judge made this ruling on dismissing the petition filed by R Pandiarani. The petitioner sought direction from the court to the Chennai Port Trust to consider her representation in respect of the family pension of her husband late K P Ramasamy who was working as Mazdoor in the Chennai Port Trust.

According to the petitioner, her husband was in service till 1997, and after his retirement, he received pension benefits till his death in 2014.

“The petitioner is the second wife of the employee who was taking care of the first wife’s children of the deceased employee and now all the children got married and she was left alone without anybody to look after. Under these circumstances, the petitioner submitted an application for a grant of family pension, which the authorities have not considered,” the petitioner’s counsel submitted.

Recording the submissions, the judge held that the petitioner is the second wife and not legally wedded with the deceased employee, and not eligible for the grant of family pension in accordance with Pension Rules in force.

“Mere looking after the family or living with the employee is not a ground to grant family pension, since the grant of pension or family pension is governed by the rules and therefore, the relief as sought for cannot be granted," the judge held and dismissed the plea.