The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court, including Justice Nitin Sambre and Justice Abhay Mantri, has ruled that the second wife of an employee is entitled to receive pension benefits. This decision came after Shanvar Bano, the second wife of the late Nurul Hasan Sheikh, filed a petition against Western Coalfields Ltd (WCL).

Shanvar Bano (58), who lives near the Railway Over Bridge in Ballarpur, Chandrapur, challenged the denial of her pension rights after her husband died in April 2021. Bano stated that she married Nurul Hasan, a Transport Supervisor at WCL, in 2001 according to Muslim customs. After Hasan's first wife died in August 2013, Hasan informed WCL on April 7, 2015, to record his second wife, Bano, as a beneficiary for all retirement benefits.

Despite this, WCL did nothing. Further attempts to contact WCL also failed. Hasan retired in July 2018, and in March 2019, Bano's lawyer sent a legal notice to WCL, requesting her name be recorded as Hasan's wife and beneficiary. WCL did not respond. On October 14, 2020, another notice was sent to WCL. In February 2021, WCL replied, saying Hasan had broken company rules by marrying again while his first wife was still alive, and they rejected Bano's request. Hasan passed away on April 18, 2021, due to COVID-19, leaving behind Bano and three married daughters.

Justice Sambre, in his ruling, highlighted that second marriages are legal under Muslim personal law and rejected the claim that Bano’s marriage was illegal. The court noted that Hasan had taken the correct steps to register Bano as his beneficiary, which WCL ignored. The court ruled in favour of Bano. Adv Aditya Trivedi represented Bano, while Advs Meghna Munshi and Vikrant Pandey represented WCL.