Pushpendra Singh Bhadoriya vs Smt. Jyoti

Heard on I.A.No.39/2020, an application under section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act on behalf of respondent.

It is submitted that the appellant has filed an application under section 13 of Hindu Marriage Act before the Family Court, Bhind, which was dismissed vide judgment dated 30th September, 2019, against which the present First Appeal has been preferred.

It is submitted that an application under section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act was filed before the learned Family Court which was considered and allowed by the learned Family Court vide order dated 6.8.2018 and it was directed to pay a maintenance of Rs.5000/-per month and litigation expenses of Rs.5000/- were also ordered to be paid to the respondent by the learned Family Court. It is submitted that after passing of the order, the payments were regularly made by the appellant, but after dismissal of the application the payment has been stopped by the appellant. It is submitted that the appellant is a Government Servant and is working in Armed Forces at Chhattisgarh and getting a salary of Rs.40,000/- + incentives. It is submitted that the respondent is facing huge financial crises and she is having no source of income and the appellant is legally bound to maintain his wife, therefore, the application under section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act is being filed for grant of interim maintenance. The respondent has claimed the interim maintenance to the tune of Rs.20,000/- per month and Rs.15,000/- towards legal expenses.

Per contra counsel appearing for the appellant by filing the reply to the application has contended that although the application under section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act has been dismissed by the learned Family Court, but the fact remains that the allegations levelled against the respondent are being admitted by her which clearly reflected from the judgment of the learned Family Court. He has drawn attention of this Court to para 4 and 5 of the judgment of the Family Court and thereafter to the findings given by the Family Court in paragraph No.30, wherein the allegations which are being levelled by the appellant against the respondent-wife were admitted by her and it was accepted that a mistake has been committed by her, but now as the marriage has already been solemnized, therefore, she has prayed for excuse towards the same. He has relied upon a judgment passed in similar circumstances by the Bombay High Court in Criminal Writ Petition No.2547/2016 (Sanjivani Ramchandra Kondalkar vs. Ramchandra Bhimrao Kondalkar & another), wherein in similar circumstances the wife was not found entitled for any maintenance. Therefore, counsel for the appellant prays for dismissal of the application.

Heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.

From the perusal of the record, it is seen that all the allegations which have been levelled by the present appellant against the wife are being discarded by the learned Family Court holding that with respect to the allegations no such cogent evidence has been produced by him. Apart from it, the application under section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act has been dismissed by the impugned judgment by the learned Family Court. The entire case has to be taken into consideration along with the evidence produced before the learned Court below. It is not disputed by either parties that the interim maintenance application was allowed by the learned Family Court and interim maintenance of Rs.5000/- was granted to the respondent-Wife. Thus, in the aforesaid facts and circumstances when there is no decree of divorce and still the allegation levelled by the husband against the wife are to be proved by the appellant, this Court deems it appropriate to allow this application.

Accordingly, the application (I.A.No.39/2020) under section 24 of Hindu Marriage Act for grant of interim maintenance is allowed. The appellant is directed to pay an interim maintenance to the respondent-Wife to the tune of Rs.5000/- (Rupees Five Thousand only) from the date of filing of the application before this Court. As far as the legal expenses are concerned as the respondent-wife is not required to appear before this Court, in such circumstances, this Court does not deem it appropriate to consider the prayer for litigation expenses, however the same shall be considered at the time of final hearing.

E-copy of this order be provided to the respondent. It is made clear that E-copy of this order shall be treated as certified copy for practical purposes in respect of this order.