A father need not prove the legitimacy of his minor daughter to claim pension benefits of his deceased wife, the Bombay High court said on Sunday, directing deputy commissioner of income tax to clear
A father need not prove the legitimacy of his minor daughter to claim pension benefits of his deceased wife, the Bombay High court said on Sunday, directing deputy commissioner of income tax to clear the pension process of the petitioner’s wife.
Justice Gautam Patel was hearing a guardianship petition filed by Girish Kanse, in which he had requested the court to issue a certificate saying that he is the father of his own child so that he could claim pension benefits of his deceased wife.
According to petition, Kanse and his wife were employees of the IT department. On May 2013, his wife had died, and after a year Kanse got remarried. In 2014, he gave an application to IT department, through which he claimed pension benefits of his deceased wife for him and his minor daughter.
However, the deputy IT commissioner Ajay Kulkarni refused to grant pension benefits to Kanse.
In his letter on January 2015, Mr Kulkarni said according to IT employee rules he could not give pension to the spouse of deceased employee if he or she remarried. Further, Mr Kulkarni insisted Kanse bring a gurdianship certificate from the HC.
During the last hearing, court issued a notice to deputy commissioner of income tax to remain present in the court and asked to explain the provision of law under which he asked for the gurdianship certificate from Kanse.
Mr Kulkarni who was present in court apologised, saying, “Asking for the certificate was an error on my part.” However, he put forward the provision under which Kanse could not get the pension benefits.
