Dead armyman’s ‘second wife’ to get pension

Times of India : Dead armyman’s ‘second wife’ to get pension

The writer has posted comments on this articleManish RajManish Raj,TNN | Dec 26, 2013, 02.25 AM IST

CHENNAI: Can a "second wife" be given family pension even if the marriage is not legally valid? Yes, if she is declared the legitimate heir of her deceased husband, said the southern bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal here.

Gottala Mary Bharathi moved the tribunal after the Army denied her family pension following the death of her ex-serviceman husband Gottala Jagannadha Rao. In her submission, Bharathi said Rao retired from the Army as naik in 1989 after 15 years of service. When he was in the Army, he got married and then went for a "customary divorce" five years later. The divorce was in the form of a mutual agreement as per "community and caste customs in the presence of village elders."

Soon after his retirement, he married Bharathi and they lived together for 21 years. They also had a daughter. Before his death in 2010, Rao made a will bequeathing pension and other benefits to Bharathi. When she approached the Army for family pension, her claim was rejected on the grounds that a decree of divorce from a court of law terminating Rao's first marriage was not provided.

In her petition, Bharathi said she had filed several petitions and affidavits to prove she was the legally wedded wife of Rao. The zilla sainik welfare officer and the pension adalat, too, recommended that the Army Air Defence Records (AAD) include her name as the beneficiary, she said. However, AAD insisted on a decree of divorce.

She said as the first wife had settled in the UAE, Rao could not complete the necessary documentation and obtain a formal divorce. If the pension was not provided, it would "cast aspersions on their marriage," she said, adding that she did not have financial resources to take care of her minor daughter.

The first wife then submitted a document to the tribunal on the termination of her marriage with Rao and requested that her name be removed from his personal records as she had remarried. She also said she was not opposed to giving family pension to Bharathi.

The bench comprising judicial member V Periya Karuppiah and administrative member Anand Mohan Varma, in an order last month, said in the absence of a decree of divorce, the second marriage was null and void though it might have received societal validation. It, however, pointed out that since Rao had bequeathed pension and other benefits to Bharathi through a will, the legal validity of which has been established, she was his legitimate heir.

"The purpose of family pension is that the family must not suffer after the demise of an individual," said the bench, granting Bharathi and her daughter the pension benefits. It said if the pension benefits are extended only to the minor child, "it would be tantamount to inflicting the status of concubine on Bharathi, who has lived as the legally wedded wife of Rao."

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Dead-armymans-second-wife-to-get-pension/articleshow/27929368.cms?