SMT. SARLA DEVI Vs. SHRI BALWAN SINGH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) (1959) AIR 1959 MP 187 (V 46) : 1958 MPLJ 246, Rukhmanibai v. Kishanlal Ramlal 10 Judgement This civil revision is directed against an order passed by Sri Abu Saad, II Additional District Judge, Meerut, on 14-4-1965, in exercise of the appellate jurisdiction conferred by Section 28 of the Hindu Marriage Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act), setting aside the order passed by the learned Civil Judge, Varanasi, granting to Smt. Sarla Devi, applicant before us, the expenses of the proceedings and maintenance pendente lite. The learned single Judge before whom the revision application came up for hearing has referred the following question of law to us for decision:-

(2.) SECTION 24 of the Act reads:- "Where in any proceeding under this Act it appears to the Court that either the wife or the husband, as the case may be, has no independant income sufficient for her or his support and the necessary expenses of the proceeding, it may on the application of the wife or the husband, order the respondent to pay to the petitioner the expenses of the proceeding, and monthly during the proceeding such sum as, having regard to the petitioners own income and the income of the respondent, it may seem to the Court to be reasonable." Section 28 of the Act reads:-

(3.) THE words "under any law for the time being in force" occurring in Section 28 of the Act, in our opinion, only mean that the appeal shall be governed by the provisions contained in the Act which deals with forums of Civil appeals in that area. The necessity for using this expression arose because of the circumstance that in different States there are different statutes in respect of Civil appeals. The Code of Civil Procedure does not provide the forum to which appeals would lie from decrees or orders. All that it does is to confer a right of appeal under certain circumstances. The forum to which an appeal would lie would be determined by the particular Act which applies to the State in which the appeal arises. For instance, for the purposes of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, Assam and Bengal it would be the provisions of the Bengal, Agra and Assam Civil Courts Act which would determine the forum to which the appeal would lie. Similarly in Mysore State, it is the Mysore Civil Courts Act, in Madras State, it is the Madras Civil Courts Act and in Bombay State, it is the Bombay Civil Courts Act which would be the "law for the time being in force." The Legislature has used the words aforesaid because different States have different Acts dealing with forum for civil appeals. In our opinion, therefore, the second part of Section 28 of the Act makes every decree or order passed under the provisions of the Act appealable as of right, but the appeal would be regulated and governed by that particular local civil Act which rules in the State in which the appeal arises.