Bad news for women: If salary enough, no maintenance for wife [Read the High Court order]

June 14, 2019:

An earning woman who has adequate financial resources isn’t entitled to maintenance from her husband, Calcutta High Court has ruled.

The court made the observation on Tuesday while denying interim maintenance to an estranged wife. The woman, who is contesting a divorce suit initiated by her husband, earns more than the monthly interim maintenance she had sought.

Justice Biswajit Basu said that the woman’s salary was not less than Rs 74,000 per month, which is sufficient for her support, particularly when she herself assessed her requirement (in the interim maintenance plea) at Rs 50,000 per month.

The woman is contesting an ongoing divorce application filed by her husband on grounds of cruelty. Earlier, a lower court had refused to grant interim maintenance to her, making a similar observation. However, in March 2016, the trial court had ordered her husband to pay his estranged wife Rs 30,000 as litigation costs. She had then challenged the order at Calcutta High Court.

In her appeal to the HC, she had claimed that her husband was working in various reputable organizations in the US, earning $1,20,000 per annum (about Rs 83 lakh), so she was entitled to maintenance proportionate to the husband’s income, as her income is much less than her requirement and entitlement”. To maintain her, “as per the status” of her estranged husband, she claimed she needs a sum of Rs 50,000 per month under following heads: Rs 10,000 as household maintenance and utilities; Rs 4,000 as pocket allowance; Rs 22,000 for goods, groceries, clothes and daily needs; and Rs 14,000 in legal expenses.

The woman had produced her salary certificates for months of December 2018, January 2019 and March 2019, which showed a salary of Rs 74,624 for first two months and Rs 81,219 for the last month. The HC said her salary was sufficient for her support, particularly when she herself assessed her requirement at Rs 50,000.

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Read the Order here: