Lakhwinder Kaur @ Lokho vs Satnam Singh

Jitendra Chauhan, J.—The present application has been preferred by the applicant-wife, u/s 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, praying for the transfer of the petition titled as ''Satnam Singh v. Lakhwinder Kaur'', filed by the Respondent u/s 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, (for short `the Act'') from the Court of learned Civil Judge (Sr. Division), Amritsar, to the Court of competent jurisdiction at Nakodar, District Jalandhar.

Learned Counsel for the applicant contends that the applicant has filed a petition u/s 125 Code of Criminal Procedure ., which is pending adjudication before the Court of Judicial Magistrate (First Class), Nakodar.

It is further contended that the applicant is a resident of Nakodar, District Jalandhar, and the purpose of filing the petition u/s 9 of the Act is only to harass the applicant.

The learned Counsel for the Respondent has vehemently opposed the prayer.

I have heard the learned Counsel for the parties and perused the record.

Hon''ble the Supreme Court in Neelam Kanwar v. Devinder Singh Kanwar, 2001 (1) M.L.J. 509 (SC), has observed as under:

We are mindful of the fact that the Petitioner is a lady and first Respondent is a male, and, therefore, for convenience of wife, a transfer to the place where the lady is residing, would be preferred by this Court unless, it is shown that there are special reason not to do so. No special reason is shown.

Mrs. Lakhwinder Kaur, the applicant-wife, is presently residing at Nakodar, District Jalandhar. The Respondent-husband filed a petition u/s 9 of the Act, which is pending before learned Civil Judge, Senior Division, Amritsar. It would certainly be difficult for the wife, living at the mercy of her parents along with her two minor children born out of this wedlock, since June, 2009 and having no source of income, to attend the court proceedings at Amrtisar, which is at a distance of about 150 kms. from the place of her residence.

Considering the fact that the applicant is a resident of Nakodar, District Jalandhar, and primarily, the convenience of the wife is to be seen, therefore, in my opinion, the balance of convenience is in favour of the applicant-wife and against the Respondent.

In view of the above, the instant transfer application is allowed and the petition u/s 9 of the Act titled as ''Satnam Singh v. Lakhwinder Kaur'' is withdrawn from the Court of learned Civil Judge, (Senior Division), and is transferred to the Court of competent jurisdiction at Nakodar. The entire record pertaining to the petition u/s 9 of the Act shall be sent by the trial Court at Amrtisar to the learned District Judge, Jalandhar, within three weeks, who will entrust it to any other Court of competent jurisdiction at Nakodar.

The parties shall appear before the learned District Judge, on 30.08.2011.