Meenu Saini vs Munish Saini
2022 Latest Caselaw 8503 P&H

Citation : 2022 Latest Caselaw 8503 P&H
Judgement Date : 4 August, 2022

Punjab-Haryana High Court

Meenu Saini vs Munish Saini on 4 August, 2022

           IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA
                        AT CHANDIGARH
221
                                       *****
                                                              TA No. 1136 of 2019
                                                        Date of decision : 4.8.2022

Meenu Saini                                                          ......Petitioner
                                         Vs.
Munish Saini                                                       ......Respondent

CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARVIND SINGH SANGWAN

Present:     Mr. Raman Goklaney, Advocate, for the petitioner.
             None for the respondent.
             ---
ARVIND SINGH SANGWAN, J. (Oral)

Prayer in this petition is for transfer of the petition filed by the

respondent-husband under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, pending

before the Court at SAS Nagar (Mohali) to the competent Court of jurisdiction

at Ambala.

As per the office report, the respondent is served but none has come

present on behalf of the respondent.

Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is residing

at Ambala alongwith minor son of the age of 5 years and the petitioner has already

filed petition under Section 125 Cr.P.C. at Ambala. The respondent-husband has also

filed a petition under Section 25 of the Guardian and Wards Act for the custody of the

minor child at Ambala. The petitioner is facing great difficulty in prosecuting the

petition filed by the respondent, as there is a distance of about 45 kms from

Ambala to SAS Nagar.

Learned counsel has relied upon the judgments Sumita Singh Vs.

Kumar Sanjay, 2002 SC 396 and Rajani Kishor Pardeshi Vs. Kishor

Babulal Pardeshi, 2005(12) SCC 237, wherein the Hon'ble Supreme Court

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observed that "while deciding the transfer application, the Courts are required

to give more weightage and consideration to the convenience of the female

litigants and transfer of legal proceedings from one Court to another should

ordinarily be allowed, taking into consideration their convenience and the

Courts should desist from putting female litigants under undue hardships."

Learned counsel has further relied upon N.C.V. Aishwarya Vs.

A.S. Saravana Karthik Sha, 2022 Live Law (SC) 627, wherein the Hon'ble

Supreme Court held as under: -

"The cardinal principle for exercise of power under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure is that the ends of justice should demand the transfer of the suit, appeal or other proceeding. In matrimonial matters, wherever Courts are called upon to consider the plea of transfer, the Courts have to take into consideration the economic soundness of both the parties, the social strata of the spouses and their behavioural pattern, their standard of life prior to the marriage and subsequent thereto and the circumstances of both the parties in eking out their livelihood and under whose protective umbrella they are seeking their sustenance to life. Given the prevailing socioeconomic paradigm in the Indian society, generally, it is the wife's convenience which must be looked at while considering transfer.

Further, when two or more proceedings are pending in different Courts between the same parties which raise common question of fact and law, and when the decisions in the cases are interdependent, it is desirable that they should be tried together by the same Judge so as to avoid multiplicity in trial of the same issues and conflict of decisions."

It is well settled that while considering the transfer of a

matrimonial dispute/case at the instance of the wife, the Court is to consider

family condition of the wife, custody of the minor child, economic condition of

the wife, her physical health and earning capacity of the husband and most

important, convenience of the wife i.e. she cannot travel alone without

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assistance of a male member of her family, connectivity of the place to and fro

from her place of residence as well as bearing of the litigation charges and

travelling expenses.

After hearing the counsel for the petitioner, considering the fact

that the petitioner-wife will have to bear the litigation expenses and

transportation expenses and in view of the judgments in Sumita Singh's case

(supra), Rajani Kishor Pardeshi's case (supra) and N.C.V. Aishwarya's case

(supra) passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, this Court deem it appropriate to

allow the present petition, subject to the following conditions:

1. The petition filed under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, pending before the Courts at SAS Nagar (Mohali) will be transferred to the competent Court of jurisdiction at Ambala.