Wife’s maintenance enhanced after plea against lower court order
Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 5
A graduate wife capable of earning is no ground to deny maintenance to her, according to a local court, which enhanced the maintenance amount fixed by a trial court.
The session court said leaving apart everything, it was the moral and statutory responsibility of a husband to look after his wife. He cannot escape from the liability of looking after his wife and children on the ground that he is not having any source of income, it said.
While deciding her application for maintenance, the trial court had directed her husband to pay Rs 2,000 per month to her till the time she got married again and Rs 2,000 per month to two minor children till they attained adulthood. She filed a revision petition before the session court for enhancing the amount.
She said husband used to treat her badly and had started living with another woman.
The petitioner further said her husband was running a mechanic shop and was earning Rs 50,000 per month. She said she was at the mercy of her relatives as she had no source of income to maintain herself and her minor children. She claimed that her husband was duty bound to look after her and their two children.
The husband opposed the revision petition. He said that he was scooter mechanic and had an old father and mother to look after. He was also paying the instalments of the loans and insurance policies. He said his wife was a graduate and had done nursing and beauty parlour courses.
The court said there was a wide gap between the acquisition of educational qualifications and use of the education for earning money. “If a wife is capable of earning by being a graduate, then the same is not a ground to deny maintenance to her as in the present case the respondent is not earning anything. In view of this the petition is partly allowed and the order passed by the trial court is modified to the extent that wife is entitled to maintenance Rs 4,000 per month till the date she gets married again and both children are entitled to maintenance Rs 2,000 each per month.
‘Duty-bound to look after us’
The petitioner said her husband was running a mechanic shop and was earning ~50,000 per month. She said she was at the mercy of her relatives as she had no source of income to look after herself and her minor children. She claimed that her husband was duty-bound to take care of the needs of her and their two children.
