Lt Co Manish Sehgal vs Meenu Sehgal
2017 Latest Caselaw 2283 Del

$~24
*      IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
+      MAT.APP.(F.C.) 141/2015 & CM APPL.17563/2017
       LT CO MANISH SEHGAL                                    ..... Appellant
                Through: Mr.   Shreyans                   Singvi,     Ms.Divija
                         Rajkhowa    and                   Ms.Ekta      Mehta,
                         Advocates.

                              versus
       MEENU SEHGAL                                            ..... Respondent
                      Through:         Mr. Bharat Arora,       Advocate     with
                                       Respondent in person.

       CORAM:
       HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE HIMA KOHLI
       HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE SANGITA DHINGRA SEHGAL
                    ORDER

% 08.05.2017 CM No.17563/2017 (for modification of visitation rights granted on 18.11.2016)

1. The present application has been filed by the respondent for seeking modification of the order dated 18.11.2016.

2. Vide order dated 18.11.2016, the guardianship right and permanent custody of Ms. Sana and Ms. Saara, children of the appellant/father and the respondent/mother was considered in the light of the order dated 01.10.2015 passed by the learned Family Court and a consent order was passed recording the terms and conditions of the guardianship right and permanent custody of the two children which reads as under:-

"In the aforesaid backdrop, keeping in view the transferrable nature of the job of the appellant and likelihood of he being

travelling out from Delhi for a posting under the Indian Army by April or May, 2017, the consent has emerged and we note its contents:-

(i) Impugned order is sustained as regards guardianship and permanent custody rights conferred upon the respondent; to be read down in terms of paragraph 2 above.

(ii) The visitation rights of the appellant would be to take the two children with him between 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM on the 2nd and 4th Friday of each month and return the children to the custody of their mother between 10:00 AM and 11:00 AM on the ensuing Sunday.

(iii) Consent term No.(ii) above would be subject to the obligation of the appellant to drop and pick up the children, if they have joined any tuition centre requiring their presence at the tuition centre, on a Saturday.

(iv) If for some reasons, visitation as per term (ii) above needs to be deferred, for example the children having some school commitment or being unwell, the right could be availed of the next Friday. Meaning thereby, two visitation rights would be available to the appellant in each month.

(v) The children enjoy four long vacations. The first being either towards the end of March or early April each calendar year. This vacation is for a week. It translates into nine days. A seven weeks' summer vacation. A week's autumn break and a week's winter vacation. The vacation period to be spent by the appellant with the children is agreed :

(a) Complete and exclusive interim custody of the children in the spring vacation, which would mean a day after the vacation period starts the appellant would be entitled to take the children with him in the morning and return custody of the children to the mother by evening a day prior to the school reopening.

(b) Four weeks during the summer vacations, which would translate into twenty eight days, including the day on which the children are taken and the day on which the children are returned

to the mother. If the children have project work or assignments during the summer vacations, the appellant would ensure that he himself or with the help of his mother would guide the children for partial completion of the assignment or the project work so that the children do not come under stress to complete the assignment. Said four out of the seven weeks during summer vacations duration would be mutually agreed with consultation with the children by the appellant and the respondent; and should a consensus elude either party would be entitled to file an appropriate application in this Court.

(c) Six days' custody during the autumn break, including the day the children are taken by the appellant in the morning and the day the children are returned in the evening would be with the appellant.

(d) As regards the winter vacations, keeping in view that Ms.Sana would be a student of Class X in the next year and Ms.Sara would be a student of Class VIII in the next year, with the consent of the two children visitation would be worked out by the appellant and the respondent keeping in view the fact that the two children would be in such standards where the ensuing school examinations, which are held in February-March, may warrant the two children to spend more time in their academic pursuits and the children should not therefore be unnecessarily stressed. If a consensus for said period with the assistance of the children, whose views would be predominant, eludes the parents, any would be entitled to file an appropriate application in this Court.

(vi) On the auspicious day of Deepawali and the festival of Holi, the appellant would be entitled to take the children out with him for a duration of four hours. On Deepawali day it would be in the forenoon session and on the day when Holi is celebrated it would be in the late afternoon after 2:00 PM".

3. Learned Counsel for the respondent states that Ms.Sana is a class- X student and this being a critical year, as she has to appear for her board examinations, she has to attend several tuitions classes, apart from the

weekly unit tests that take place on a Monday of each week. As she has to devote more time to her academics, homework, tuitions etc. a request is made to modify the visitation rights granted to the appellant.

4. As per the consent order, the visitation rights entitle the appellant/father to take the two children with him on the second and fourth Friday of each month, from 06:00 PM-07:00 PM and return them on Sunday between 10:00 AM-11:00 AM. It was agreed that during vacation time, out of seven weeks of the summer vacations, both the children shall remain with the appellant/father for a period of four weeks.

5. We are informed that the school where the children are studying has reduced the summer vacations of the elder daughter, Ms. Sana from seven weeks to four weeks. In other words, she shall have to attend the school upto 31.05.2017 and her summer vacations will commence from 01.06.2017 and end on 02.07.2017. The vacations of the younger daughter, Ms.Sara shall however be for a period of seven weeks.

6. We have interacted with the appellant and the respondent to resolve the issue. They have agreed that they would not like to disturb the academic schedule of Ms. Sana. Therefore, it is agreed that only for this year, Ms. Sana shall spend two weeks, out of four weeks of the summer vacations, with the appellant/father which will be in the first half of June i.e. between 01.06.2017 to 16.06.2017.

7. Ms. Sara the younger daughter has to go out of town for a school trip, from 26.05.2017 to 29.05.2017. It is agreed that the appellant shall pick her up on 15.05.2017 between 10:00 to 11:00 AM and return her to the respondent/mother on 25.05.2017 by 04.00 PM. Later on, she shall accompany her elder sister, Ms.Sana and both of them shall remain with

the appellant/father from 01.06.2017 till 16.06.2017.

8. Coming to the respondent's grievances raised in the present application that the visitation rights granted twice a month to the appellant is interfering with the studies of the children, as it is stated by the appellant/father that he is likely to be posted out of Delhi in the month of May-June, 2017, for the present, we would not like to change the status. In any case, the visitation rights of the appellant/father have not worked out on ground inasmuch as he got visitation of the children only once in the months of January and February, 2017 and there was no visitation in the month of March, 2017.

9. The present application is disposed of, with liberty granted to the respondent/mother to approach the Court at a later stage, if necessary.

HIMA KOHLI, J

SANGITA DHINGRA SEHGAL, J MAY 08, 2017 ssc