SHRI B. Vs. SMT. A

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS is a letters patent appeal preferred by the husband against the judgment and order of Ashok Agarwal J. of this Court. By the said judgment the learned Single Judge allowed the appeal preferred by the respondent herein, namely, the wife, reversed the decision of the trial Court and enhanced the maintenance qua the children. The appellant husband has preferred this appeal being aggrieved by the said decision. Cross -objections are filed by the respondent claiming more maintenance.

(2.) THE appellant had filed the petition for divorce in the Bombay City Civil Court praying for divorce on the grounds of cruelty and desertion and for custody of the minor children.

(3.) THE parties, both Hindus, were married on March 18, 1967 at Bombay according to Hindu Vedic Rites. At the time of the marriage the appellant husband was employed as a lecturer with Polytechnic College at Amravati and the respondent wife was employed as a lecturer in Ruia College, Bombay. Sometime after the marriage the wife tendered her resignation and accompanied her husband to Wardha where her in -laws were residing. After staying there for few days they proceeded to Amravati and stayed there till the end of April 1967. Thereafter the wife came back to Bombay for the purpose of assessing the examination papers. She also undertook German language course. The resignation which she had tendered soon after her marriage was withdrawn by her in May 1967 and she rejoined the Ruia College at Bombay in June 1967. In June 1967 the husband was called for an interview for German Scholarship for which he was selected and between July and September 1967 the husband attended the German language course at Pune. He went to Germany on October 10,1967.and returned only in December 1968. On his return the husband rejoined the college at Amravati in December 1968. At the husband's instance the wife resigned from her job and joined her husband at Amravati in March 1969. In December 1969, both the husband and wife came to Bombay and the wife got re -employed in Ruia College. In August/September 1970 the husband was again transferred to Nagpur and from there in March 1971 to Amravati. However, in July 1971 the husband joined V J.T.I, at Bombay for post -graduation and was posted in Bombay after he completed his post -graduation examination. During this period the couple resided in Shardashram for some time. Thereafter the husband resided in the V J.T.I, hostel during which period the wife resided with her parents. On January 11, 1972, a son Abhijeet was born to the couple. During October/November 1974 the couple resided at Thane and thereafter at Bandra. The wife had, in 1972, booked a flat at Andheri and after the said flat was ready for possession, the couple moved into the same in March 1974 and made it their matrimonial home. On September 1, 1975, a daughter Ajita was born. On July 1, 1976 the husband came to be transferred to Nagpur and the wife continued to live at Andheri with the children and got herself admitted for M.A. in Sociology. After the transfer of the husband to Nagpur in July 1976, the arrangement arrived at between the parties was that the husband would visit the family almost every month or so for few days and during vacations the children and the wife would go to join him at Wardha. The husband was living at Wardha with his parents and commuted to Nagpur for his job. This arrangement continued up to early 1979 when the husband wrote two letters (Exhibits 'B' and 'C' colly.) to the wife and on receipt thereof the relations between the parties started disintegrating which ultimately culminated into the present matrimonial petition being filed in Bombay. After the receipt of the said two letters, the husband stopped his visits to Bombay and also discontinued to send Rs. 300/ - per month which he was hitherto sending. There were few letters exchanged. This continued for 11 months. After which the husband took back to Wardha some furniture which belonged to him and filed a matrimonial petition for divorce at Wardha which he withdrew and filed the petition for divorce in Bombay. The married life of the couple could be, thus, divided into three distinct periods, namely, from the date of their marriage to the date on which they made the Andheri flat their matrimonial home in 1975; from 1975 till the husband wrote the said letters in September 1978 which were posted and received by the wife in April 1979 and the last period being the period thereafter till the matrimonial petition in Bombay was filed.