ROMILA JAIDEV SHROFF Vs. JAIDEV RAJNIKANT SHROFF

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS reference is made by the learned Single Judge of this Court in respect of Notice of Motion No. 3254 of 1999 in Suit No. 5885 of 1999. The said suit was filed by the plaintiff/wife against the defendant/husband seeking maintenance and expenses for herself and her children. The aforesaid Notice of Motion is for interim maintenance. The suit is filed in this Court in its Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction.

(2.) AN occasion arose for the learned Single Judge to make this Reference because on behalf of the defendant/husband, the plea of want of jurisdiction was taken. This plea was raised on the basis of section 7 of the Family Courts Act, 1984. It is an admitted position that so far as the suit for maintenance is concerned, it is covered by the provisions of the said Act and, therefore, the Court, as contemplated by the said Act, will be the one to hear the same.

(3.) RELYING upon the Clause XII of the Letters Patent, according to the plaintiff, when the defendant is within the local limits of the Ordinary Original Civil Jurisdiction of this Court, the jurisdiction under Clause XII of the Letters Patent cannot be ousted because of the said Family Courts Act.