Educated Wife/ Earning Wife- Not An Absolute Bar To Grant Maintenance To Her- Delhi High Court
INTRODUCTION
‘Maintenance’ as defined is an amount payable by the husband to his wife who is unable to maintain herself either during the subsistence of marriage or upon separation or divorce. Although “maintenance” and “alimony” are used interchangeably; Alimony refers to an allowance or amount which a court orders the husband to pay to the wife for her sustenance. In a marriage, the husband has an obligation to maintain his wife.
Delhi High Court, recently ruled that merely because a wife is earning will not bar her from receiving maintenance from her husband.
Justice(s) V Kameswar Rao and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta Division Bench, Delhi High Court, in CM. APPL. Nos.34480 & 34482/2023 underlined that husband is obliged to provide maintenance to his wife and this obligation is on a higher pedestal than the wife. That the statutory provision for granting maintenance or interim maintenance to wife and children is given under various statutes which derives power from the underlying principle of Article 15(3) of Constitution of India,1950.
Case Analysis- Nidhi Sudan V. Manish Kumar Khanna, Amt. App (Fc) 231/2023
Factual Matrix
X and Y got married in 2000. That out of said wedlock a girl child was born in 2010. However, in 2019 divorce proceedings were initiated by wife on ground of Cruelty and Desertion, and since 2013 wife was constrained to live separately.
Application u/s 24 HMA, 1955 was moved by wife in December 2013, wherein she claimed maintenance of Rs.75,000/- per month for herself and her minor daughter, along with litigation expenses. Husband entered his appearance in year 2019 and he was proceeded Ex-parte from Court in April 2022.While disposing the application in April 2023, Hon’ble Family Court directed husband to pay Rs. 20,000/-monthly maintenance for minor daughter only expenses from the date of filing of the application till the final disposal, and Rs.11,000/- towards litigation. However, Court declined pendente lite maintenance to wife.
Aggrieved by this, an appeal was preferred by wife before Hon’ble High Court wherein order was challenged and also prayed that Maintenance of the child needs to be enhanced.
Court Observations
Division bench while disagreeing with findings of the Lower Court to the extent that the wife was capable of supporting herself financially on her own and did not need Husband’s Assistance, observed that “On the face of record, considering the status of the parties along with the standard of living in the matrimonial home and the income of the respondent, the appellant wife is also entitled to maintenance apart from the minor child”.
Court further observed that the wife had to live in a tenanted premises and bear all the expenses of the minor daughter including her education, extracurricular, medical expense and other uncertainties of life etc.
Court also noted that maintenance of the child is joint responsibility of both parents, and while determining the amount of maintenance the Court must consider the realistic view of the expenses and the status of the parties must also be taken into consideration.
Hon’ble High Court clarified that “The purpose remains to provide recourse to dependent wife and children by way of financial support to maintain herself along with the child”.
The court further observed in terms of Proviso to Section 24 HMA, an Application for the grant of interim maintenance should be disposed of within 60 days of service of notice, Admittedly, the interim maintenance to be decided on the basis of averments of the parties, the income and assets affidavit filed by the parties. That all these factors must be considered while determining the amount of maintenance.
In the present case, Husband entered appearance in December, 2019 but the application under Section 24, disposed of only in April 2023 along with the petition. Court viewed that whenever party is processed ex-parte or do not choose to proceed further, decision of Application u/s 24 HMA, not to deferred at a later stage. Court further stated that there has to be speedy disposal of the cases to ensure that the party claiming maintenance is not suffering due to financial crisis.
Court emphasised that while granting maintenance to wife, it must consider the source of income of wife and also whether the same is sufficient to enable her to maintain herself along with a minor child.
Hon’ble High Court stated that though there cannot be a straightjacket formula to determine the amount of maintenance however, it stated that the same should be reasonable and based on multiple factors. Relying on Rajnesh v. Neha &Anr., 2020 SCC OnLine SC 903, Hon’ble High Court highlighted that following aspects must be considered while granting maintenance:
- Reasonable needs of the wife and dependent children,
- Whether the applicant is educated and professionally qualified,
- Whether the applicant has any independent source of income,
- Whether the income is sufficient to enable her to maintain the same standard of living as she was accustomed to in her matrimonial home,
- Whether the applicant was employed prior to her marriage,
- Whether she was working during the subsistence of the marriage, etc.
The High Court stressed on the point that “The maintenance has to be realistic, avoiding either of two extremes i.e. neither oppressive or extravagant, nor meagre to drive the applicant wife to penury or mere support. The duration of the marriage as well as the conduct of the parties, which is apparent on the face of the record also needs to be kept in perspective”.
Hight Court’s Decision
High Court after considering all the above stated parameter has stressed that the amount awarded must be reasonable and realistic. And after considering the income, assets and life style of the husband, Hon’ble Court observed that the wife is also entitled to enjoy the same amenities of life-style as she would have been entitled to in her matrimonial home.
Division bench modified the Family Court’s order and held that the wife is also entitled to monthly maintenance of Rs.15,000/- apart from the maintenance for the minor child as awarded by the Family Court, from the date of filing of application till the disposal of the proceedings.
High Court concluded that “Maintenance pendente lite shall be set off/adjusted against any other amount of maintenance received by the appellant. The respondent shall also be liable to clear the arrears of maintenance within timeline as directed by the learned Judge, Family Court”.
CONCLUSION
Court determined various factors while granting maintenance or alimony to a wife, and the prime factors were the husband’s status, Lifestyle and his income. And in fact, Court also took into consideration whether the wife is educated and capable to earn, if so, then it decides the alimony/ maintenance according to the same.
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