HC rules in woman's favour, will get share of son's end benefits

MADURAI: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court came to the rescue of a woman who was denied 50% of the terminal benefits of her deceased son, who worked for Tangedco, by her daughter-in-law.
"Since there is no cordiality prevailing between the petitioner (woman who filed the case) and her daughter-in-law, permitting the latter to receive the same and directing her to disburse 50% to the petitioner could only lead to multiplicity of proceedings, involving expenditure in terms of time, money and energy.Therefore, the petitioner is permitted to receive 50% of the terminal benefits," the single judge bench order read.
Accordingly, the superintending engineer of Tangedco, Madurai, is directed to disburse the terminal benefits of the deceased to the petitioner, the judge said.
In the present case, the petitioner's son, P Sivalingam, died on March 4 last year leaving his mother, P Panchali, and wife, P Vimala, as legal heirs.
But when the mother sought equal share in terminal benefits of her son, Tangedco refused to give it by its order dated May 5 and stated that the amount would be disbursed only to the person listed as 'nominee' by the deceased in the service register. Since the wife was the nominee, the mother was ineligible to receive the amount, the order said.
The single judge who heard the matter said the Supreme Court had held that mere nomination made in favour of a particular person does not have the effect of conferring on the nominee any beneficial interest in property after the death of the person concerned. The nominee is entitled to receive the amount, but the amount so received is to be distributed according to the law of succession. Thus, the woman is entitled to get 50% of the terminal benefits, the judge said.