Apex Court held in this decision u/s 23 of Hindu Marriage Act that, Court has to consider the petitioner’s own income and the income of the respondent before granting Interim Maintenance to application.
From Para 8,
8. Section 24 thus provides that in any proceeding under the Act, the spouse who has no independent income sufficient for her or his support may apply to the court to direct the respondent to pay the monthly maintenance as the court may think reasonable, regard being had to the petitioner’s own income and the income of the respondent. The very language in which Section is couched indicates that wide discretion has been conferred on the court in the matter of an order for interim maintenance. Although the discretion conferred on the court is wide, the Section provides guideline inasmuch as while fixing the interim maintenance the court has to give due regard to the income of the respondent and the petitioner’s own income. In other words, in the matter of making an order for interim maintenance, the discretion of the court must be guided by the criterion provided in the Section, namely, the means of the parties and also after taking into account incidental and other relevant factors like social status; the background from which both the parties come from and the economical dependence of the petitioner. Since an order for interim maintenance by its very nature is temporary, a detailed and elaborate exercise by the court may not be necessary, but, at the same time, the court has got to take all the relevant factors into account and arrive at a proper amount having regard to the factors which are mentioned in the statute.
Final Straw:
The cost of the appeal is burdened at Rs. 20,000/- (Rupees twenty thousand) on the husband to be paid to the appellant within one month from today.
Neeta Rakesh Jain Vs Rakesh Jeetmal Jain on 20 July, 2010
Citations: 2010 SCR 8 505, 2010 AIR SC 3540, 2010 SCC 12 242, 2010 SCALE 7 201,
Indiankanoon.org link: https://indiankanoon.org/doc/9474/
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