GITA CHANDRASHEKHAR PANDIT Vs. CHANDRASHEKHAR RAMESHWAR PANDIT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These proceedings by wife and husband respectively against each other raise a short legal point.

(2.) It is not in dispute that Gita was married to Chandrashekhar, an Advocate on 8-12-1985. Marital discord led Gita to seek maintenance under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure by an application made in the year 1987. By an order dated 19-11-1992, Gita was granted maintenance at the rate of Rs. 500/- per month. In 1990, Chandrashekhar filed a petition for decree of divorce from Gita on the ground of cruelty. Decree of divorce was granted finality by judgment dated 1-3-2001 in Second Appeal No. 129 of 1999 decided by Aurangabad Bench of this Court.

(3.) It may be useful to recount how this litigation proceeded. Petition for divorce by husband on the ground of cruelty was contested by wife, who also filed a counter-claim for restitution of conjugal rights. The trial Court as well as the First Appellate Court rejected husband's claim for divorce and decreed wife's claim for restitution of conjugal rights, as may be seen from copy of decree in Hindu Marriage Petition No. 76 of 1987 of Court of Civil Judge, Senior Division, Dhule, re-numbered as Hindu Marriage Petition No. 2 of 1990 in the Court of Civil Judge, Senior Division, Nandurbar, which was included in the compilation filed by husband. In spite of the fact that the decree specifically recounts that wife had made a counter-claim for restitution of conjugal rights and had paid Court fee of Rs. 37.50 (37.50 ) on the said counter-claim, which is also duly included in the bill of costs, a substantial question of law seems to have been raised in the following words as can be seen from para 6 of the judgment in Second Appeal:-