APURVA Vs. DOLLY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) The appellant-husband has laid challenge to the order dtd. 12/9/2022, passed by the High Court of Gujarat at Ahmedabad, whereby the respondent-wife has been granted maintenance at the rate of Rs.1,00,000.00 (Rupees One Lakh) per month whereas both the children have been granted maintenance of Rs.50,000.00 (Rupees Fifty Thousand) each per month. It may be seen that the Family Court, Surat had previously granted a paltry amount of Rs.6,000.00 per month to the wife and Rs.3,000.00 per month to each of the children. Thereafter, the aggrieved wife and children approached the High Court through a Revision Application, which was allowed vide the impugned order.

(3.) While enhancing maintenance, the High Court took notice of the fact that the appellant is a businessman, who owns a diamond factory. The status of the appellant was briefly highlighted, referring to the fact that he had employed a Manager in his office to look after day-to-day affairs. The High Court has also drawn adverse inference against the appellant as he failed to produce income-tax documents, despite admittedly being an income-tax assessee. The appellant, however, for reasons best known to him, did not produce his income-tax return despite a direction issued by the High Court to that effect. It is in this backdrop that the High Court accepted the claim of the respondents for enhancement of maintenance. The High Court further directed that the above-stated amount shall be payable from the date of filing the application and the appellant shall be obligated to deposit the arrears before the Family Court within a period of six months.