The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court recently upheld the orders of the Nanded civil court and directed a woman to pay a monthly maintenance of Rs 3,000 to her ex-husband.
A single-judge bench of Justice Bharati H Dangre passed a ruling with respect to a plea filed by the ex-wife, who petitioned against the orders of the Nanded civil judge passed on August 8, 2017, and December 6, 2019. The two orders granted interim maintenance to the man and reordered the recovery of arrears from the woman by deducting the amount from her salary.
Notably, the couple got married on April 17, 1992, and their marriage ended with a divorce decree on January 17, 2015, after the woman approached the court alleging cruelty and desertion.
After divorce, the ex-husband filed a petition seeking permanent alimony of Rs 15,000 per month from the woman, claiming that he did not have any source of income. On the other hand, the man contended that his ex-wife was employed in a high school.
The ex-husband claimed that to encourage the woman to complete her studies, he managed household affairs, keeping aside his own ambitions. He added that he suffered humiliation and harassment in the marital relationship as the woman filed a plea for divorce with “malafide and dishonest intention”. He further claimed that he was without a job and did not possess any immovable property, and was also not keeping good health. The ex-husband said in court that the woman earned a salary of Rs 30,000 per month and possessed valuable household articles and immovable properties.
However, the ex-wife refuted the man’s claims and said that he was running a grocery shop, owned an autorickshaw and earned income by leasing out the same. The woman also added that they had a daughter who is dependent on her, so the ex-husband’s maintenance claim should be rejected.
However, the Nanded civil judge in August 2017 held the ex-husband’s petition maintainable and ordered the woman to pay interim maintenance of Rs 3,000 per month till the permanent alimony plea is decided. In another order passed in December 2019, the civil judge directed the headmaster of the school where the woman is employed to deduct Rs 5,000 per month from her salary and deposit the same in the civil court till the outcome of the plea by the ex-husband for recovery of maintenance arrears.
The woman’s lawyer, SS Thombre, told the high court the proceedings for permanent alimony and maintenance were not maintainable after the decree of divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Directing the woman to pay maintenance to her ex-husband after the dissolution of marriage would amount to “travesty of justice”, Thombre added.
Advocate Rajesh Mewana, who represented the ex-husband, submitted that the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 do not depend on the outcome of relationship subsequent to divorce.
After perusing submissions, Justice Dangre observed in the ex-husband’s favour and stated, “Section 25 (Permanent Alimony and Maintenance) of the 1955 Act has to be looked upon as a provision for destitute wife/husband, the provisions will have to be construed widely so as to salvage the remedial entailments, the contention of the wife’s counsel cannot be accepted. It is open for the court to decide… by way of final proceedings, pending which, the application for interim maintenance filed under Section 24 of the 1955 Act, has been rightly entertained by the Civil Judge and the husband has been held entitled to interim maintenance while the proceedings under Section 25 are pending.”
The judge held that two impugned orders “do not warrant any interference and, by upholding the same, the writ petitions are dismissed.”
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/maharashtra-bombay-hc-upholds-orders-directing-wife-to-pay-maintenance-to-ex-husband-7850604/
