Shimla, Sept. 19 -- The Himachal Pradesh High Court has directed the state government to recognize the second wife of a retired carpenter-foreman as the nominee for family pension benefits.
Justice Sandeep Sharma, while pronouncing judgment in a petition filed by Mahesh Ram, quashed an earlier departmental order that had rejected his request to include his second wife, Jawala Devi, in his pension records.
The court observed that given the peculiar facts and long cohabitation, denying her recognition would be unjust. Mahesh Ram, who retired in 2003, was initially married to Kamlesh Devi in 1994.
As the couple remained childless, he subsequently married her younger sister, Jawala Devi, the same year with the consent of his first wife. All ...