KAVITA SINGH Vs. VASANT KUMAR SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner / wife has moved this application under Section 24 of CPC for transfer of divorce petition pending in the Family Court, Durg to Family Court, Vishrampur.

(2.) Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the respondent / husband has filed a suit seeking decree of divorce from the petitioner, which has been filed at Durg. Because of the dispute between the parties, the petitioner is presently residing at Vishrampur along with her parents and a 10 year old son. The distance of Vishrampur from Durg is about 450 Kms. Therefore, the petitioner/ wife is facing grave hardship and inconvenience in undertaking journey, all the way from Vishrampur to Durg to attend Court proceedings. It is also submitted that it is difficult for the petitioner to leave behind her 10 year old son and her movement from Vishrampur to Durg causes serious inconvenience to her son. It is also submitted that the petitioner has no independent source of income and not financially sound also. The petitioner has remained dependent on care, support and financial assistance from her parents and after judicial intervention, she is getting litigation expenses and maintenance from her husband. Therefore, it is prayed that the case may be transferred from Family Court, Durg to Family Court, Vishrampur.

(3.) Learned counsel for the respondent, however, opposes prayer and submits that the petitioner is not justified in seeking transfer of the case merely because she happened to reside at Vishrampur. Relying upon two decisions of the Supreme Court in the cases of Preeti Sharma v. Manjit Sharma, 2005 11 SCC 535 and Anindita Das v. Srijit Das, 2006 9 SCC 197 , learned counsel for the respondent sought to urge that on mere asking, the case could not be transferred. He submits that the respondent having taken up the remedy of filing suit for decree of divorce is in a position of 'dominus litus'. Unless there is extraordinary reason, he should have right to prosecute the case at the place of his choice. It is further submitted that the wife and the son, both are being paid maintenance of Rs.12,000/- per month and whenever she undertakes journey to attend the case at Durg, she is also paid Rs.1,000/- per journey. Moreover, litigation expenses of Rs.7,000/- have already been paid to the petitioner. It is also submitted that though the distance between Vishrampur and Durg is about 450 kms, Vishrampur is well connected with Durg through conveyance of Raiways. It is further submitted that the respondent is a Teacher in Kendriya Vidyalaya and he has other responsibilities also including maintenance of his own parents.