Woman can't be denied family pension after estranged husband's death until divorced: Delhi HC

New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) The Delhi High Court has held a woman couldn't be denied family pension once the estranged husband passed away despite matrimonial their disputes, unless their relationship ended in a divorce.

A bench of Justices Navin Chawla and Madhu Jain said only because there was a delay by the woman in moving an application for releasing the family pension, it would not deny her the relief from the date of the husband's death.

"The very fact that the petitioner (wife) had filed an application seeking maintenance from the deceased, shows that there were some matrimonial disputes between the petitioner and the deceased (husband).

"For the same, until the same had resulted in a divorce, the grant of family pension to the petitioner could not have been denied," the bench said on August 1.

The court was hearing a petition by a woman challenging an order of the Central Administrative Tribunal directing the government to release family pension to her but denying her full arrears.

While her husband passed away in 2009, she moved an application before the government seeking family pension only in 2013. The tribunal directed that the arrears be paid only from the date of filing of the plea before it, that is October 16, 2014.

The Centre rejected her claim, contending the deceased did not mention her name in the list of his family members and cited their matrimonial dispute.

The woman, however, argued she was the legally wedded wife of the deceased and no justification could deny her the family pension in the absence of a valid claim from any other person.

As the government contended the woman was not even aware of her husband's death and her claim for pension was belated, the bench said, "We are afraid the above submissions cannot deny the right of the petitioner to the grant of the family pension".

The court set aside the tribunal's order and held her entitled for the family pension from the date of her husband's death in September 2009 and directed the arrears along with interest to be paid to her within four months. PTI SKV SKV AMK AMK