AJAY MITTAL Vs. SONU GOYAL

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal has been filed by appellant-husband aggrieved by order of the Family Court No. 3, Jaipur, dtd. 20/5/2019, by which the Family Court has allowed the application of the respondent-wife filed under Sec. 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and granted her a sum of Rs.7000.00 as monthly maintenance pendente lite.

(2.) The respondent-wife has filed a petition under Sec. 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 seeking decree of divorce on the ground of cruelty.

(3.) Mr. Raunak Dixit, learned counsel for appellant-husband, submitted that the Family Court has mechanically granted the amount of monthly maintenance to the tune of Rs.7000.00. The order passed by the Family Court is against the settled principle of law. The Family Court failed to appreciate the respondent-wife herself is graduate and also having degree of B.Ed. And she is earning Rs.20,000.00 per month by teaching work. The appellant-husband is earning only a sum of Rs.6000.00 per month, which is very low as compared to the income of the respondent-wife, by working with a hotel. The respondent-wife therefore does not deserve to be granted any maintenance. The Family Court has construed the word 'support' in Sec. 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, in a very narrow manner. When the appellant-husband himself does not have sufficient means of income, how possibly he can maintain the respondent-wife. Learned counsel, in support of his arguments, has relied on a judgment of the Madhya Pradesh High Court in Smt. Mamta Jaiswal v. Rajesh Jaiswal 2001 (1) RCR (Civil) 588, wherein it has been held that well qualified spouses desirous of remaining idle, not making efforts for the purpose of finding out a source of livelihood, have to be discouraged and that the spouses who are quarreling and coming to the Court in respect of matrimonial disputes, have to be guided for the purpose of amicable settlement as early as possible. Reliance is also placed on the judgment of Delhi High Court in Nisha Jain v. Amit Jain dtd. 24/8/2016 in Matrimonial Application (F.C.) 106/2015, wherein it has been held that provision of Sec. 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 has been enacted to enable the husband or the wife, as the case may be, who has not independent source of income for his or her support and to incur necessary expenses to contest the litigation, can claim maintenance pendente lite so that proceedings may be continued without any hardship on his/her part.