Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court, while directing Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) to release family pension to the widow of a retired employee, has ruled that a govt employee’s instruction denying retiral benefits to his estranged wife becomes ineffective if the marriage legally subsists.The court passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Yasmeen Devani, whose claim for family pension was rejected by the civic body after her husband, Nadir Devani, had nominated their two sons to receive his retiral benefits and specifically instructed by way of filing an affidavit that no benefits be paid to his wife.Devani passed away in Aug 2025, and his widow applied for family pension and consequential arrears and interest. The application was rejected by the corporation by citing Devani’s affidavit and the mention of their sons in the nomination form.The widow approached high court claiming that she was entitled to the family pension as their marriage had continued to subsist and was never dissolved by a divorce decree.Her lawyer cited a division bench’s order stating that for grant of family pension, the only relevant consideration is whether the claimant is a legally wedded wife or husband of the pensioner and was alive on the date of the death of the pensioner. “Even if the pensioner has nominated a third person, excluding his wife, the right of the legally wedded wife or widow to claim family pension cannot be defeated or brushed aside,” the high court said and directed RMC to “fix and release the family pension payable to the petitioner as expeditiously as possible and, in any event, not later than three months from the date of receipt of this order”.
