SADHU LAXMI SUNDARAMMA Vs. SADHU SURYANARAYANA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This is an unfortunate dispute between a wife and her husband, appellant and respondent respectively in this second appeal. The spouses have been living apart since 1936 owing to misunderstandings and their three minors daughters have been living with the mother since then. The wife sued her husband and obtained a decree for the maintenance of herself and her children. The eldest daughter though a minor, attained marriageable age in 1942 and was got married by the mother, the father having taken no interest in the affair. The suit out of which this second appeal arises was filed by the wife against her husband for the recovery of a sum of Rs. 1,000 stated to have been spent by her in connection with the marriage of the daughter. The suit was decreed by the District Munsif. On appeal the learned Subordinate Judge held that though the wife might have spent Rs. 1,000 in connection with the marriage, she could not recover it from her husband, he being under no legal obligation to get his daughter married. The wife has therefore preferred this second appeal.

(2.) In Sundari Ammal v. Subramania Aiyar, 26 Mad. 505, Davies and Bhashyam Ayyangar JJ. held that a Hindu father was under no legal obligation to get his daughter married and that a wife who expended money on her daughter's marriage in circumstances like the present, was not entitled to recover it from her husband. The learned Judges followed an earlier decision of a Bench of this Court in Seshammal v. Muniswami Mudaliar, 8 M. L. J. 105, which held that a Hindu father was under a moral but not a legal obligation to get his daughter married. In Subbayya v. Anantaramayya, 53 Mad, 84: (A. I. R. (16) 1929 Mad. 586 P. B.), Ramesam J. referring to these two decisions observed:

(3.) The appellant's learned advocate relies on the well-known passage of Yagnavalkya (1-53-64) in support of his argument that it is the imperative duty of the father to get his daughter married before she attains puberty. The passage is as follows: