SURESH KHULLAR Vs. VIJAY KHULLAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) . This civil revision petition is filed under Section 115 of the CPC assailing the order of an Additional District Judge dated 24.2.1997 whereby he has dismissed an application of the petitioner filed for grant of interim maintenance to her during the pendency of proceeding instituted under Sections 18, 20 and 23 of Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (hereinafter the Act) against the respondent.

(2.) . The short question that arises for adjudication in this revision petition is whether the petitioner, the second wife of the respondent, may be allowed the interim maintenance under Section 18 of the Act. The facts are short and simple. The respondent was married to one Ms. Manju Khullar in 1980. He filed a divorce petition in the court of the District Judge, Himachal Pradesh and his marriage with Ms. Manju Khullar was dissolved by an ex parte decree of divorce dated 29.10.1984. Thereafter he contracted second marriage with the petitioner on 14.10.1988. Ms. Manju Khullar filed application for setting aside the ex parte divorce decree which was allowed by the District Judge, Himachal Pradesh by order dated 4.11.1989. The petitioner filed a petition against the respondent under Sections 18 and 20 of the Act for grant of maintenance to her. She also filed an application for grant of interim maintenance during the pendency of the proceeding. The allegation of the petitioner was that the respondent had married her by representing to her that he was a divorcee and he had obtained valid divorce from his first wife Ms.Manju Khullar . Later on the petitioner came to know that the respondent had played a fraud upon her . She alleged that after the marriage she was treated with mental and physical cruelty by the respondent and the other members of his family. He filed a petition for divorce against her. During its pendency he moved an application for amendment of the petition stating the divorce decree obtained by him against his wife Ms.Manju Khullar had been set aside and. therefore, the marriage between him and Ms.Manju Khullar shall be deemed to be subsisting at the time of his marriage with the petitioner . He, therefore, claimed a decree of nullity of the marriage. He was a businessman and his income was in four figures. He also had a diploma in Indusatrial Marketing Management and was a well-to-do man with business interest and properties including commercial office in Lajpat Nagar. She prayed for granting interim maintenance to her. The application is opposed by the respondent.

(3.) . The learned Additional District Judge dismissed the application mainly on the ground that the petitioner being the second wife of the respondent, marriage having been solemnised during the subsistence of the first marriage, was not entitled to be granted maintenance under the Act. He relied upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in Bakulabai etc. vs. Gangaram 1988 RLR (SC) 171. He also dismissed the main petition.