SUBHADRAMMAL Vs. KANNAMMAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The subject-matter of this appeal is the sum standing to the credit of one D.G. Chetty in Provident Fund. D.G. Chetty was a Government servant who died in the year 1937. In 1928, the present plaintiff, who is D.G. Chetty's widow, filed a suit against him for separate maintenance and in May, 1929, was given a decree. In August 1929, D.G. Chetty made a fresh nomination under the rules of the Provident Fund by which he appointed the first defendant, his mistress, as the person entitled to receive the amount of the fund in case of his death.

(2.) The question before us is whether the plaintiff or the first defendant is entitled to this money, or to put it in other words, whether the nomination made by the subscriber in August, 1929, is a valid nomination under the rules or not. The learned Additional City Civil Judge has held that the nomination is valid and comes within the scope of Note 1 to Rule 17. Rule 17 deals with the disposition of a provident fund upon the death of a subscriber before retirement and| mentions the various contingencies which will arise. Under Note 1, it says that: A husband may make a written application for the exclusion of his wife from participation under Clause (b), if she has been judicially separated from him....

(3.) The question before us can therefore once again be stated in this way : "Is a Hindu wife who has obtained a decree for separate maintenance judicially separated from her husband?" If she is judicially separated from him, it is conceded that the nomination in this case is within the powers of the depositor under the rule. If she has riot been, the effect of the Provident Fund Rules is to vest the whole of this fund in the plaintiff. The learned Additional City Civil Judge holds that the words "judicially separated" in this note must be given an extended meaning. In para. 32 in setting out the argument of the learned Advocate for the first defendant, he says that "judicially separated" has to be interpreted as "meaning and including the judicial recognition or adjudication of the right of a person to live separately from her spouse."