Equal pension to both wives of deceased govt employee, orders Gujarat High Court

Gujarat High Court on Tuesday ordered the payment of half share of pension to the first wife of a deceased employee who had married twice.

In the writ petition filed by the first wife of the deceased Gujarat government employee, who was a retired employee at the time of death, the petitioner demanded her share as the pension was paid only to the second wife.

The deceased employee had married for the second time before retiring from his service.

The high court ruled that both wives of a retired and deceased government employee are entitled to receive equal share of the pension, and ordered the relevant authorities to pay the petitioner her share within three months.

The court observed that under the Gujarat Civil Services Pension Rules, a wife is included in the definition of ‘family’, which also encompasses legally separated wives and husbands.

HC ruled that as per the Gujarat Civil Services Pension Rules, 2002, it is clear that if there is more than one wife (widow), the family pension must be divided equally. The rules do not specify that only the first or the second wife is entitled to the pension. 

Instead, the rules explicitly state that the family pension should be paid equally between the wives. The court ordered that the petitioner wife be paid half of the deceased government employee’s pension amount within three months.

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