PARAMJIT SINGH Vs. SUNITA DEVI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Petitioner has approached this Court impugning the order dtd. 7/3/2022 vide which learned Family Court has granted the interim maintenance of Rs.4,500.00 per month to the respondent/wife.

(2.) Counsel for the petitioner has contended that the Family Court has failed to appreciate that the petitioner was doing the work of a labourer in Oman (Muscat) and that now he has permanently returned to India and presently he is jobless. He submits that the Court failed to appreciate that the respondent/wife was earning about Rs.15,000.00 per month from the stitching work. He submits that the petitioner has one daughter and a son, who are dependent upon him. His income is only to the tune of Rs.8,000.00 per month. He submits that the petitioner has already filed a petition under Sec. 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act for dissolution of the marriage but the learned Family Court has failed to appreciate the same and thus, has granted the interim maintenance of Rs.4,500.00 per month, which is totally beyond the facts and circumstances of the case and the evidence on record. Heard.

(3.) Relationship between the petitioner and the husband is not in dispute. Both the parties filed their respective affidavits before the Family Court. Admittedly, this is the second marriage of both the parties. Though in the affidavit filed, the petitioner has shown his income as Rs.8,000.00 per month, whereas when he was working in Oman (Muscat), he was earning Rs.80,000.00 per month. The Family Court has noted that the petitioner intentionally did not produce his three years' bank account statement showing his financial status and hence it was presumed that he was having a good financial status. It is presumed that even considering the petitioner as an unskilled labourer, the earning is more than Rs.12,000.00 per month. Taking into consideration the attending facts and circumstances and the law settled, the Court has granted Rs.4,500.00 per month as interim maintenance to the respondent/wife.