GOPALAN Vs. STATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) An interesting question has been raised by the petitioners, arising from the seemingly inflexible mandate contained in sub-s. (2) of S. 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (for short, 'the Act'), requiring a waiting period of six months after the filing of the joint petition seeking dissolution of marriage by consent. The petitioners, husband and wife filed O.P. No. 1611/11 before the Family Court, Thrissur on 19/8/2011 under S. 13B of the Act. They also filed Ext. P2 petition under S. 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure (for short, 'the Code'), praying that the Court may dispense with the six months' time to dispose of the joint petition. The Family Court, Thrissur found that there is no provision to waive the statutory period of six months and dismissed the petition. Hence, this O.P. (FC) filed under Article 227 of the Constitution of India, wherein the prayer is to direct the Family Court, Thrissur to pass appropriate final orders on the joint petition filed under S. 13B of the Act immediately, at any rate, within two weeks from the date of the petition.

(2.) We heard Sri. P.B. Sahasranaman, Learned Counsel for the petitioners.

(3.) The contention of Sri. Sahasranaman runs as follows: S. 13B of the Act contains two parts; viz., Sub-s.(1) and sub-s. (2). We extract S. 13 B: