A division bench of Apex Court held as follows,
From Para 16,
16. The review petition under Order XLVII Rule 1 CPC came to be filed by the respondent-wife pursuant to the liberty granted by this Court when the earlier order dated 02.02.2015 awarding a maintenance of Rs.16,000/- to the respondent-wife as well as to her minor son was under challenge before this Court. As pointed out by the High Court, in February 2015, the appellant-husband was getting a net salary of Rs.63,842/- after deduction of Rs.24,000/- on account of GPF and Rs.12,000/- towards income-tax. In February, 2016, the net salary of the appellant is stated to be Rs.95,527/-. Following Dr. Kulbhushan Kumar vs. Raj Kumari and Anr. (1970) 3 SCC 129, in this case, it was held that 25% of the husband’s net salary would be just and proper to be awarded as maintenance to the respondent-wife. The amount of permanent alimony awarded to the wife must be befitting the status of the parties and the capacity of the spouse to pay maintenance. Maintenance is always dependant on the factual situation of the case and the court would be justified in moulding the claim for maintenance passed on various factors. Since in February, 2016, the net salary of the husband was Rs. 95,000/- per month, the High Court was justified in enhancing the maintenance amount. However, since the appellant has also got married second time and has a child from the second marriage, in the interest of justice, we think it proper to reduce the amount of maintenance of Rs.23,000/- to Rs.20,000/- per month as maintenance to the respondent-wife and son.
Download judgment here.
Citations: [2017 SCC ONLINE SC 440], [2017 AIR SC 2383], [2017 CDR SC 2 257], [2017 ALLMR 5 426], [2017 ALR 123 287], [2017 AWC SC 3 2259], [2017 ALT 3 51], [2017 ALD 4 176], [2017 BOMCR 3 765], [2017 CHN SC 2 212], [2017 CTC 3 209], [2017 CLT 124 555], [2017 DMCSC 2 1], [2017 ILR KER 2 335], [2017 JLJR 3 23], [2017 JKJ SC 2 1], [2017 JCC 3 1953], [2017 KHC 2 606], [2017 KLJ 2 614], [2017 OLR 1 946], [2017 PLJR 3 72], [2017 RLW SC 2 1154], [2017 RCR CIVIL 2 1033], [2017 SCALE 5 55], [2017 WLN SC 3 70], [2017 SCC 14 200], [2018 SCC CIV 1 216]
Other Sources:
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/87785076/
https://www.casemine.com/judgement/in/58f7912e53bee77d50c515fe
