BALVINDAR KAUR Vs. MUKUL KUMAR SRIVASTAVA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) -The petitioner has filed the present application under Section 24 of the C.P.C. for transfer of Matrimonial Suit No. 312 of 2003 pending before the Principal Judge, Family Court, Kanpur to the Family Court at Lucknow. The petitioner alleged that the marriage was solemnized in Ghaziabad and that at no moment of time the petitioner and the defendant resided together at Kanpur and that the Kanpur Court had no territorial jurisdiction whatsoever to hear or decide the matrimonial dispute inter se between the parties in view of the specific provision of Section 19 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 which provides the jurisdiction of the civil court to decide the family dispute on the basis of the residence. The respondent is represented and affidavits have been exchanged.

(2.) HEARD Sri Shyamal Narain, the learned counsel for the applicant and Sri B. N. Rai, the learned counsel for the opposite party.

(3.) A perusal of sub-section (3) of Section 19 of the Act indicates that a petition could be presented to the District Court where the parties to the marriage last resided together. The word "reside" means a place where one resides, abode, house. In the present context, the Legislature intended that where parties have lived under a roof in a permanent capacity or on a permanent basis and does not mean a temporary abode of living.