important point
Even if a Government Servant had contracted second marriage during the subsistence of his first marriage, children born out of such second marriage would still be legitimate though the second marriage itself would be void.

judgment

V.S. Sirpurkar, J. —

1.Leave granted.

2.A common judgment of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh at Jabalpur, disposing of two Miscellaneous Appeals is in challenge before us. The appeals were filed by one Smt.Sukhrana Bai claiming herself to be the widow of one Sheetaldeen. Sheetaldeen was working as a CCM Helper in Mines P.K.1 of the Western Coalfields at Pathakheda and died on 9.5.1993 while in service. Two separate applications came to be filed under Section 372 of the Indian Succession Act for obtaining succession certificate with respect to the movable properties of deceased Sheetaldeen, one of them was filed by Vidhyadhari registered as Succession Case No.3/96 while the other came to be filed by Sukhrana Bai which was registered as Succession Case No.10/95. Both the cases were joined and tried together by the Trial Court which allowed the application filed by Vidhyadhari (SC No.3/96) and dismissed the one filed by Sukhrana Bai (SC No.10/95). Sukhrana Bai, therefore, filed two Miscellaneous Appeals being MA 33/1998 and MA 43/1998 which came to be allowed by the High Court in favour of Sukhrana Bai. Vidhyadhari, therefore, is before us in this appeal. Before we proceed with the matter, a factual background would be necessary.

3.Admittedly, Sukhrana Bai was the first wife of Sheetaldeen, while during the subsistence of this marriage, Sheetaldeen got married with Vidhyadhari. Two sons and two daughters were born to Vidhyadhari, they being Smt.Savitri, Naresh @ Ramesh, Ms.Chanda @ Durga and Baliram, while Sukhrana Bai does not have any children.

4.Vidhyadhari in her application before the Trial Court (SC No.3/96), besides herself, disclosed the names of her children as the legal heirs of Sheetaldeen. It was also revealed that deceased Sheetaldeen had nominated her for receiving amounts under the Provident Fund, Family Pension Scheme and Coal Mines Deposits Life Scheme. She also disclosed that she has received a sum of Rs.45036/- towards gratuity amount of the deceased from the employer of Sheetaldeen, i.e., Western Coalfields Ltd. She, therefore, claimed the Succession Certificate on the basis of the nominations besides her marriage with Sheetaldeen.

5.As stated above, both the Succession Cases came to be consolidated and tried together. In SC No.10/95, filed by Sukhrana Bai, Vidhyadhari raised an objection that Sukhrana Bai was not the heir of deceased Sheetaldeen and though Sheetaldeen initially nominated Vidhyadhari to receive the dues after his death as per Form A, subsequently he cancelled that nomination and filled in a second Form A in which he had nominated Smt.Vidhyadhari and in description of his family members he had indicated her to be the wife, one Naresh as his son and Ms.Chanda @ Durga as his daughter. It was also pointed out that Sukhrana Bai had not claimed any dues from the office of Sheetaldeen. WCL which is a party, contended that the non-applicant had no knowledge about the valid marriage between the deceased and Sukhrana Bai and it was also admitted that Sheetaldeen had nominated Vidhyadhari to receive the total amount and had registered her as his nominee. Following issues came to be framed by the Trial Court:

“(1)Whether the legal widow of the deceased Sheetaldeen is the applicant Smt.Sukhrana of Case No.10/95 or Vidhyadhari of Case No.3/96?

(2)Whether Smt.Savitri, Naresh aias Ramesh, Ms.Chanda alias Durga and Baliram, as mentioned in the application of Case No.3/96 are the children of applicant Vidhyadhari, sired by deceased Sheetaldeen?

(3)If yes, whether they are the heirs of deceased Sheetaldeen?

(4)For receiving the amount due to deceased Sheetaldeen, issuance of Succession Certificate in whose favour would be just and proper?

(5)Relief and expenses?

Both oral and documentary evidence was led by both the parties. Sukhrana Bai examined herself as AW1 along with three other witnesses, namely, Kanhaiyalal (AW2), Ram Prasad (AW3) and Shivnath (AW4). On the basis of the evidence led, the Trial Court held V