AGARTALA, India, March 4 -- Tripura High Court issued the following order/judgement on Feb. 2:

[1] Heard Ld. Counsel of both sides.

[2] The case, as a chequered history, is that the petitioner as a Rifleman (GD), entered into the service on 23.04.1985 under respondent nos. 1 and 2. Initially, on entering into service, he filled in Attestation form, Personal Data form, GIS nomination form & GPF nomination form and DCRG nomination form on different occasions, mentioning the name of his wife as Smt. Ratna Ghosh i.e. respondent no.3. He also mentioned in the Service Book, names of his three children, who are Ms. Mampi Ghosh, Ms. Priyanka Ghosh and Mr. Samaresh Ghosh. Meanwhile, in the year 2001, said Smt. Ratna Ghosh filed a petition before the Court of Ld. Judicial Magistrate, 1st Class, Agartala, West Tripura claiming the maintenance for herself, which was ultimately dismissed by order dated 24.05.2002, wherein Ld. Court observed that the petitioner, Ratna Ghosh was not the legally married wife of the present petitioner. Thereafter, the present petitioner approached respondent no.2 for stopping the interim maintenance which was being deducted from his salary earlier for payment to said Smt. Ratna Ghosh, and the respondent no.2, vide order dated 11.07.2002 [Annexure-R/4 in the present writ petition], allowed said petition and also observed that the petitioner was permitted to cancel the nomination furnished in favour of said Smt. Ratna Ghosh.

[3] Thereafter, on 10.02.2020, the petitioner also sent another letter to respondent no.2 for striking off the name of respondent no.3 i.e. Smt. Ratna Ghosh from the Service Book and to insert the name of one Smt. Kanak Lata Ghosh (not a party in this writ petition) as his wife in place of Smt. Ratna Ghosh. A legal notice was also issued thereafter on 09.10.2020 (Annexure-4) which brought no positive response. Finding no alternative, he approached the High Court by filing writ petition bearing no. WP(C) 651 of 2021. Said writ petition was disposed of on 27.05.2022 by a Co-equal Bench of this High Court with the following observations and decision:

"Thereafter, he should initiate an inquiry proceeding, giving opportunity to the petitioner and the respondent No.3 to prove their respective claims, inasmuch as, the respondent No.3 has claimed that she is legally married wife of the petitioner.

On the basis of the outcome of the said inquiry, the respondent No.2 shall take the appropriate action. If it appears during the enquiry that the matter requires judicial decision, the respondent No.2 may ask the petitioner and the respondent No.3 to approach the competent court of law for bringing out the decision.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://hcservices.ecourts.gov.in/ecourtindiaHC/cases/display_pdf.php?filename=A9S7c5LDIsB6RXaCf816x6hz92xjzs%2FFswEwLpC4z5tO4zoAkaGdJg42ysGNuhzJ&caseno=WP(C)/336/2025&cCode=1&cino=TRHC010009572025&state_code=20&appFlag=)

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