The second wife has no right on the pension of the deceased husband. -Bimbay High Court

The Bombay High Court has ruled that if the deceased husband had entered into a second marriage without legally terminating the first marriage,then the second wife of the deceased is not entitled to get the pension of the deceased husband.

According to the case, The deceased Mahadev was working as a peon in the Solapur District Collector's office. when the deceased Mahadev married his second wife Shamal Tate,at the time. The deceased Mahadev was married. And his first wife was alive. Mahadev passed away in 1996. After the death of Mahadev, the first wife was receiving the pension of the deceased. After the death of the first wife, Shamal Tate, the second wife, applied to the state government demanding that the pension of the deceased Mahadev be paid to him. Shamal Tate applied to the state government four times between 2007 to 2014 for the payment of arrears of pension. The state government rejected the four applications of Shamal Tate. While rejecting the applications, the state government said that only the wife is legally entitled to pension

The aggrieved Shamal Tate filed a petition in the High Court in 2019 seeking a direction to the state government for payment of pension. The petition was heard by the Justice Milind Jadhav and Justice S.J. Kathawala. The petitioner's argument was that she is the mother of three children of the deceased Mahadev. Society knows them as husband and wife. She is entitled to get the pension. especially after the death of the first wife who was still getting pension. The Bench disagreed with the arguments of the petitioner and said that the Supreme Court has held in several judgements that under the Hindu Marriage Act the first marriage is legally annulled, the second marriage is not valid. Dismissing the petition, the bench said that the decision of the state government not to give pension to the petitioner was correct.