JAI BHAGWAN Vs. ANITA RANI

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE Appellant -husband impugns the decree passed under Section 13 -B of the Hindu Marriage Act (for short, the Act). He claims that though the decree in question is the result of a fraud played upon him, yet even if he is to be disentitled to raise this plea in these proceedings, still the decree is violative of the very provision under which it purports to have been passed. The argument is that no petition under Section 13 -B of the Act can be maintained within a period of one year from the date of marriage. It is not a matter of dispute that parties to this litigation were married on October 22, 1980 and the present petition for divorce was presented on March 2, 1981, that is, within less than five months of the date of marriage.

(2.) HAVING heard the learned Counsel for the parties in the light of the provisions of Sections 13 -B and 14 of the Act I find that the appeal deserves to succeed. The relevant parts of these sections read as follows:

(3.) FOR the reasons recorded above, I allow this appeal and while setting aside the judgment and decree in question, dismiss the petition as incompetent but with no order as to costs.