SUDHIR DAMODARAN Vs. ANASTATIUS CHERYL DAMODARAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this appeal under Section 19 of the Family Court's Act preferred by the husband, an order made under Section 36 of the Special Marriage Act directing the award of Rs.1 lakhs per month as maintenance to the respondent wife has been challenged.

(2.) THE facts of the case are that the parties to the dispute solemnized their marriage under the Special Marriage Act on 10.07.1985 at Mumbai. They have two daughters. The wife claimed that the husband was indulging in adulterous relationship resulting in his moving out of the matrimonial house. It is an admitted fact that the husband is an Executive Director of M/s Cat Vision Products Limited and also its shareholder to the tune of 20%. The wife was employed as a Manager on a salary of Rs.60,000/ - per month by the same company. The husband moved a petition for divorce claiming that the wife had inflicted cruelty upon him. In the course of these proceedings, the wife moved an application under Section 36. By the impugned order, after considering the material on record as well as submissions of the parties, the Trial Court directed the award of Rs.1 lakh per month payable to wife.

(3.) LEARNED counsel for the respondent wife urged the Court to affirm the impugned order. It was submitted that the Trial Court took into consideration all the relevant materials and also applied the law correctly having regard to the judgment of the Court reported as Bharat Hegde v. Saroj Hegde 140 (2007) DLT 16. It was submitted that the kind of life style that the husband lives belies the submission that he is not in possession of any income in excess of Rs.1,05,600/ - per month. Learned counsel submitted that considerable amount of expenditure borne by the company which employs the husband in fact amounts to income which supports and uplifts his standard of life. It is submitted that a sum of Rs.65,000/ - per month paid towards the rent free accommodation and enjoyed exclusively by the husband is in fact purely to ensure comforts of a respectable accommodation for family of the husband.