MINOO RUSTOMJI SHROFF Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By consent the Writ Petition is admitted. At the request of the petitioners it was taken up for final hearing.

(2.) The petitioners, who are the trustees of the Parsi Panchayat Funds and properties have sought a declaration that the learned Presiding Judge of the Parsi chief Matrimonial Court at Bombay does not have jurisdiction to pass a decree of divorce by mutual consent under the Parsi Marriage And Divorce Act, 1936 without seeking aid/assistance from the delegates appointed under the Act. The petitioners have also sought a Writ of Certiorari to quash the decrees passed by the learned Presiding Judge (a learned Judge of this High Court) of the Parsi chief Matrimonial Court dissolving the marriages of respondent Nos. 3 and 4 and so on to respondent Nos. 27 and 28. Respondent Nos. 3 to 28 are Parsi Zoroastrians. The Writ of Certiorari is sought on the basis that the decrees were passed by the Presiding Judge without seeking the aid/assistance of the delegates appointed under the Act. It is necessary to note that the decrees were passed in suits filed by respondent Nos. 3 to 28 under section 32-B which provides for "divorce by mutual consent".

(3.) The question of law that arises for consideration in this petition is whether in a suit filed under section 32b of the Act for divorce by mutual consent the Presiding Judge of the Parsi Chief Matrimonial Court is entitled to pass a decree declaring the marriage to be dissolved without seeking the aid/assistance of the delegates.