PF nominee: Equal rights for spouse and parents

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has said that the wife and parents have equal rights over the General Provident Fund (GPF) of a deceased government employee. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and N Kotishwar Singh pointed out that the nomination of parents becomes invalid with marriage. In case of marriage, the nomination for parents will not stand. The amount should be distributed equally to the wife and parents of the deceased employee.

The petitioner wife had received all service benefits except GPF when her husband, an employee of the Defence Accounts Department, died in 2021. The GPF fund was denied because the husband had nominated his mother before marriage. The wife's case against this was upheld by the Central Administrative Tribunal. The tribunal found that the nomination of the mother became invalid after marriage. The Tribunal then directed that the funds be divided between the two. However, the Bombay High Court, which heard the appeal in the case, had ruled that the nomination of the mother was valid until the employee officially revoked it. The Supreme Court's ruling was on a petition filed by the wife against this.