Charanjit Singh Grewal alias Goggi vs Inderjit Kaur

Harbans Singh Rai, J.—The short point involved in this petition is whether maintenance u/s 125, Criminal Procedure Code, is to be awarded from the date of application or from the date of order.

The petitioner was directed to pay maintenance at the rate of Rs. 300/- per month by Judicial Magistrate 1st Class, Patiala, vide his order dated May 28, 1987. The application for maintenance was filed on November 10, 1984. The Magistrate had directed that the maintenance would be payable from the date of application i.e. November 10, 1984. The petitioner filed a revision petition against the order of the Magistrate 1st Class, but the same was dismissed by Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala, vide his order dated October 14, 1987.

Mr. G.S. Grewal, learned counsel for the petitioner, has submitted that section 125(2) Cr. P.C. provides that maintenance shall be payable from the date of order and in case it is made payable from the date of application, the Court must give reasons for awarding the same. The relevant part of section 125, Cr. P.C. reads as under:

Order for maintenance of wives, children and parents.-

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(2) Such allowance shall be payable from the date of the order, or, if so ordered, from the date of the application for maintenance.........................

A perusal of the above provision would show that maintenance is to be awarded from the date of order, but the Court is not debarred from awarding it from the date of application. To make maintenance payable from the date of application, the Court must have cogent reasons for ordering so. Normally, the reasons relate to the conduct of the husband during the trial. The husband, who is guilty of delaying tactics in trial and had been putting obstacles in early disposal, can be directed to make the payment of maintenance from the date of application. In this case, there is no such allegation. The learned trial Court, while awarding maintenance from the date of application, has been influenced by the cruelty of the husband towards his wife. To my mind, that is not the relevant consideration for ordering maintenance payable from the date of application. Cruelty can be a valid ground for awarding maintenance, but if the maintenance is to be made payable from the date of application, this will not be a relevant ground.

There is nothing on the file which may suggest that the petitioner had been guilty of any delaying tactics or his conduct had been such during pendency of the petition for maintenance which may warrant an inference of obstruction against him. The trial Court was not justified in ordering maintenance to be payable from the date of application. The order of the learned trial Court making maintenance payable from the date of application is set aside and it is ordered that the maintenance at the rate of Rs. 300/- shall be payable from the date of order i.e. May 28, 1987. With this modification, this petition is disposed of.