The Rajasthan High Court Bench comprising Justice Sangeet Lodha and Justice Rameshwar Vyas in the case titled Rana Ram v. Payal give their views on can a Family Court dismisses Divorce Petition if Husband fails to pay maintenance.

Facts of the Case:

During the pendency of the petition under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act filed by Appellant (Husband) against Respondent (wife), an order dated 16.10.2014 was passed in favour of the respondent awarding Rs.5,000/- per month as interim maintenance, Rs.3,000/- as legal expenses and Rs.2,500/- as advocate fees. An application was preferred by the respondent for dismissal of the petition on the ground that out of Rs. 2,25,000/- outstanding towards the interim maintenance. On the said application, the appellant was directed to pay remaining arrears within a period of 3 months from the date of order i.e. 20.07.2017; it was further directed by the Court that on the failure of paying the arrears within the stipulated period, the divorce petition under Section 13 of the HM Act shall be dismissed. On 27.03.2019 the divorce petition was dismissed on account of non-compliance of order passed under Section 24 read with Section 26 of the Hindu Marriage Act.

Submission of the Appellant:

The Appellant has submitted that the appellant has already paid an amount of Rs.4,64,000/- to the respondent by way of cash, cheque and compulsory deduction from his salary and as per the order passed by the Court, a sum of Rs.20,000/- is being recovered from the appellant's monthly salary till this date. It is also submitted that in view of the recovery already made, no amount of maintenance is due against the appellant under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act.

Court’s Observation & Judgment:

The High Court agree with the view taken by the Division Bench of Rajasthan High Court in the case of Amandeep Soni v. Smt. Monika Soni that for non-compliance of the direction by the appellant in the application under Section 24 of the HM Act, a petition seeking divorce cannot be dismissed. At best it can be adjourned sine die.

The Court ovbserved:

"In the instant case, the appellant has already paid a substantial amount of maintenance to the respondent and against the arrear and the future payment of maintenance, a sum of Rs.20,000/- is being deducted from the salary of the appellant, which would obviously take care of the arrears of the maintenance as also the future liability of the maintenance payable in terms of the order passed by the Family Court. The impugned order passed by Family Court No.1, Jodhpur deserves to be set aside. The petition under Section 13 of the HM Act dismissed by the impugned order shall be restored forthwith."

The appeal was thus allowed.

Read Judgement Here:

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