RATNA CHATTERJEE Vs. SOVAN CHATTERJEE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The petitioner/wife has challenged an order whereby the trial court has relegated the hearing of two applications filed by the petitioner, respectively under sections 24 and 26 of the Hindu Marriage Act, to the hearing of the suit.

(2.) It is submitted by learned senior advocate appearing for the petitioner that since the applications are of an interlocutory nature, those ought to have been decided first prior to entering into the trial of the suit. Moreover, the result of such applications might have a bearing on the further conduct of the suit.

(3.) Learned senior advocate appearing for the opposite party, while controverting such arguments, places reliance on a list of dates filed on behalf of the opposite party, showing therefrom that the present petitioner/wife took adjournment on several occasions in the court below and filed the alimony application at a belated stage of the suit. It is further argued on behalf of the opposite party, that although the petitioner/wife took steps for filing written statement in the suit as well as filed a counterclaim much earlier, the petitioner waited for an inordinately long time, just before the trial to commence, for filing her applications under sections 24 and 26 of the Hindu Marriage Act respectively, the only reason for such belated filing being to stall the suit, thereby harassing the opposite party.