DUDHIBEN MERAKHBHAI Vs. NATHABHAI HAZABHAI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This Revision Application arises out of the proceedings under S.24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 relating to maintenance pendente lite and expenses of Court proceedings, in the following facts and circumstances.

(2.) The respondent No. 1, Nathabhai Hazabhai, is the original applicant who has filed Hindu Marriage Petition No. 17 of 1994 against the petitioner-wife and the respondent No. 2 for divorce from the petitioner-wife under S.13 of the said Act, on the ground that the petitioner-wife has been living in adultery with respondent No. 2. The said divorce proceedings are pending in the Court of the learned Assistant Judge, Junagadh. The petitioner has joined respondent No. 2 as the paramour of the petitioner-wife.

(3.) By the application Exh. 10, the petitioner-wife claimed maintenance at the rate of Rs. 1,000.00 per month and Rs. 2,000.00 as expenses to contest the divorce proceedings. The petitioner-wife, inter alia, contended in the said petition that she has no independent income sufficient for her and that the respondent-husband is a well-to-do farmer having good income. The respondent-husband filed objections denying that the petitioner-wife has no income sufficient for her maintenance. He also denied that he has any agricultural property nor he is a farmer. He has stated that he is a small farm labourer and is maintaining himself with difficulty. He further the order passed by the Assistant Judge, Junagadh in H.M.P. No. 17 of 1994 rejecting the wife's application for maintenance pendente lite and costs of the proceeding. contended that the petitioner-wife did not discharge her duties as a wife and has been staying with respondent No. 2 and has immoral relations with him.