Central bank case: Benefits for old staffers’ new wives

KARACHI:

Is the new spouse of a retired employee eligible for medical benefits? This was the legal question that came up in the Sindh High Court on Tuesday in the case of a newly married but retired State Bank of Pakistan employee.

The staffer, Fawad Badar, opted for a Voluntary Golden Handshake in 1997. Nearly 11 years later, he remarried, on November 9, 2008, and asked the SBP to enter his new spouse for medical benefits.

But the request was turned down by the bank. Badar maintained that the bank had also behaved indifferently to his requests when his son was born in 2004 (from another wife). He also alleged that the SBP stopped the treatment of his mother without any reason in 1998. The bench will hear both sides in detail on September 19.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 10^th, 2011.