CAROLINE PERPETUA EARDLEY Vs. GLENN B EARDLEY

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This civil revision petition is directed against an order passed by Civil Judge (Senior Division) and Principal Judicial Magistrate First Class, K.G.F., on an application under Section 36 of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869 seeking interim maintenance for the petitioner-wife. The application has by the said order been dismissed on the ground that the appellant-wife is in a position to maintain herself.

(2.) The parties are Christians by faith. They appear to have tied the knot in the year 1984 and raised three children out of the wedlock, all of whom are females. The respondent-husband is a driller in an oil rig and appears to be in the employment of a company based in Abu Dhabi. He has in a petition under Sections 10 and 11 of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869, sought dissolution of marriage on the ground that the wife has committed adultery since the solemnisation of the marriage. The wife has denied the allegations and is resisting the prayer for divorce. The matter has remained pending before the Trial Court since the year 1995.

(3.) During the pendency of the above proceedings, LA. No; XIII was filed by the petitioner-wife in March 2000 seeking alimony pendente lite at the rate of Rs. 20,000/- per month besides litigation expenses of Rs. 25,000/-. The application stated that the husband was employed as a driller with a monthly salary of Rs. 1 lakh. Besides, he was publishing a newspaper in the name of "K.G.F. Update" and earning a sum of Rs. 10,000/- from the same. He was, according to the application, the owner of a building worth more than Rs. 50 lakhs, besides a Toyota car valuing more than Rs. 12 lakhs. The wife alleged that she had no means or source of income to maintain herself in keeping with her status and that she deserved maintenance at the rate of Rs. 20,000/- per month from the husband.