REKHA BHARDWAJ Vs. YOGESH BHARDWAJ

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The present petition preferred by the wife, who is also the petitioner in HMA No.1337/2021 pending before the Court of the learned Principal Judge, Family Court (North District) Rohini Courts, New Delhi seeks a direction to the learned Family Court to expeditiously dispose of the aforesaid petition preferred under Sec. 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 wherein she has sought dissolution of her marriage with the respondent.

(2.) A perusal of the order sheets annexed with the petition shows that the parties had been jointly seeking adjournments before the learned Family Court on the ground of the possibility of an amicable settlement between them. It is only on 7/1/2023 that the petitioner for the first time prayed that the matter be considered on merits and therefore, the learned Family Court, while adjourning the matter to 13/4/2023, granted one weeks' time to the respondent to file his written statement.

(3.) Learned counsel for the petitioner, while not denying that both the parties were seeking adjournments before the learned Family Court till 7/1/2023, seeks to contend that the same was only on account of the parties attempting to amicably settle the matter. He submits that a settlement had in fact been arrived at between the parties but the same could not materialise only on account of the non-cooperation of the respondent. He submits that even otherwise, the parties have now been living separately for the last more than 7 years and therefore prays that learned Family Court be directed to decide the petition on a day to day basis so that the same can be disposed of within a period of six months. In support of his plea, he seeks to place reliance on the decisions of the Rajasthan High Court in Renu Shekhawat vs. Vinod Singh, 2019 SCC Online Raj 2976, Girdhari Lal vs. Anita, 2011 SCC Online Raj 1495, Hari Shankar Yadav vs. Kiran, 2015 SCC Online Raj 1105, Lokesh Kumar vs. Vandana Bairwa 2019 SCC Online Raj 1969, Vipul Khandelwal vs. Nitin Khandelwal, 2018 SCC Online Raj 2322, of the Uttarakhand High Court in Sandeep Kumar Pathak vs. Bunty 2021 SCC Online Utt. 1088, Prateek Thapliyal vs. Principal Judge, 2013 SCC Online Utt. 1866, Vinod Kumar vs. Nisha 2016 SCC Online Utt. 635 and of the Calcutta High Court in Mehul Mohanka vs. Nameeta Redhu Mohanka, 2019 SCC Online Cal 1583, Joyeb Chandra Dutta vs. Kaberi Dutta, 2011 SCC Online Cal 1583, Sikha Gorai vs. Subodh Chandra Gorai 2003 SCC Online 246.