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Tulsa Devi Nirola & Ors. v. Radha Nirola & Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2020 INSC 270Decided 4 Mar 2020
Civil Appeal No. 1835 of 2020
Justice Ashok Bhushan · Justice Navin Sinha

Background

A government employee in Sikkim married twice: his first wife (appellant no.1) and, during the subsistence of that marriage, a second wife (respondent no.1) in 1987, before the Hindu Marriage Act was extended to Sikkim. Before his retirement, he executed a settlement deed in 2008 dividing his property between both wives, and in his official pension nomination he named only the second wife to receive family pension. After his death, the first wife was denied a succession certificate and any share of the family pension, and both the trial court and the High Court ruled against her.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the second marriage was not proven to be invalid under the old Sikkim marriage rules, since no evidence showed it was solemnized under those rules. It held that family pension is not part of a deceased person's estate and is governed entirely by the applicable Pension Rules, under which a nomination naming only one wife is valid unless the rules mandate equal sharing, which they do not unless the employee himself nominates more than one person. Since the first wife had already accepted and acted upon the settlement deed dividing the couple's property, she could not now reopen that arrangement to claim a share of the pension. The appeal was dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

Family pension nominations made by a government employee during their lifetime generally control who receives the pension after death; a spouse who has already accepted a property settlement cannot later claim an equal share of a pension that was nominated solely to someone else.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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