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The Supreme Court has raised the maintenance amount to a wife, taking into account the husband’s conduct, in successfully prolonging the disposal of the maintenance petition filed in the year 2003, until 2015.
In this case, the marriage last for just four days. Due to the sudden rise of differences, the litigation was started by the wife in the year 2003 and lasted for 15 years and will, hopefully, end with this Supreme Court judgement. The interim maintenance issue travelled up to the apex court earlier too and had it fixed at Rs.20, 000 per month. The family court fixed the final maintenance amount as Rs.10,000 per month, to be paid for the period 2003-2010 and the highcourt modified the order extending it to period beyond the year 2010, fixing it at Rs.9,000 per month. The wife condemned this order before the apex court.
The bench, comprising of CJI Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud, observed that the HC took into account all the relevant aspects and justly rejected the plea of the husband regarding his inability to pay maintenance amount to the appellant on the finding that he was a well-educated and an able-bodied person.The bench also noted that determination of monthly maintenance amount payable to the appellant must be on the basis of notional minimum income of the respondent as per the current minimum wages in Delhi irrational.
The bench further added that regard must be given to the living standard of the respondent and his family, his past conduct in successfully prolonging the disposal of the maintenance petition, filed in the year 2003 until 2015 and that the he is a highly qualified and an able-bodied person. Thus, the bench felt inclined to direct that the respondent shall pay a sum of Rs.20,000 per month to the appellant towards the maintenance amount with effect from January 2010 and thee amount of Rs.25,000 per month with effect from 1st June, 2018 until further orders.
The bench also rejected the contention put forth by the husband that the decision related to maintenance should be given in accordance with tenure of marriage, meaning thereby that long tenure marriages with children or even with just a long-term investment of time can be computed monetarily but not so a 4-day marriage resulting in a 15-year litigation, driven by a desire for vengeance with a motive to harass.
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