Alimony in coins earns man Judge’s rap

Ishrat S Banwait
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, October 31

A local court today came down heavily on a man for paying a part of the alimony to his wife in coins. Of the total Rs 15,000, the man gave his wife coins of Re 1, Rs 5 and Rs 10 worth Rs 5,000, while the rest of the amount was in the form of Rs 100 notes.

This is the second such case in three months. On July 24, an advocate had paid the entire maintenance amount of Rs 24,600 in the form of coins. In today’s case, the man was told to pay Rs 7,500 maintenance to his wife every month. Today, he came to the court to pay the maintenance for two months amounting to Rs 15,000. When the Judge saw the large number of coins, he reprimanded the man for it.

The man told the court that he got the money from the bank in this form. The wife, however, accepted the money. The couple had entered wedlock in January 2003. In 2016, the wife filed a case of domestic violence against the man.

She stated that at the time of the marriage, her husband had claimed that he had a lot of property. However, after they got married, she realised that the claims were false. She alleged that she was thrashed after the man took alcohol and he demanded dowry as well. 

In the previous case, much hue and cry was raised by the wife, who said her husband wanted to harass her by paying coins. The entire amount of Rs 24,600 was paid by the man in the form of Re 1 and Rs 2 coins. As counting was taking a lot of time, the matter was adjourned for counting the money.

What Coinage Act says

According to Section 6 of the Coinage Act, 2011 (Central), if an amount exceeding Rs 1,000 is paid in the form of coins, it is not legal tender. Thus, the other party, in this case the wife, could have refused to accept the same. The Judge had also suggested the same, but the wife willingly took the money offered in coins.