MUMBAI: A family court last week directed actor Om Puri to pay a monthly interim maintenance of Rs 1.25 lakh to his estranged wife Nandita and Rs 50,000 towards their son. The court also directed Puri to continue to pay actual medical and educational expenses of the child and Rs 1.15 lakh he was voluntarily paying every month. He must, therefore, pay close to Rs 3 lakh in all to Nandita.

The court observed it was clear the parties belonged to a high economic class and Rs 1.15 lakh is not in accordance with their standard of living.

"There is a possibility that due to strained relations, the opponent (Puri) may not pay the same amount as he used to do, during the happy period of married life. The parties are bound to accustom to the standard of living during those years," the court said.

The court held that while the wife had no sufficient source of income, Puri had a sound financial background. It also directed Puri to pay Rs 25,000 as legal expenses.

The court accepted that Puri was paying for several expenses, including the insurance premium, mediclaim policies, electricity and phone bills, and society maintenance charges.

The court held it was necessary to strike a balance between the claim and the defence. It further assumed the actor's monthly income was around Rs 15 lakh after deduction of income tax and other expenses. "It is clear that the applicant (Nandita Puri) has no financial liberty. The opponent is paying the amount cut to cut. The applicant and child need the freedom for financial decisions," the court said.

While Puri had filed a divorce petition in 2012, his estranged wife had filed the application for interim maintenance. Nandita said she is a housewife and has no source of income. She further claimed the actor earned around Rs 35 lakh to Rs 45 lakh a month.

Puri countered the claims and alleged that the petition was filed with the motive of usurping his properties and harassing him. He also said he was a responsible, dutiful and doting father and husband and took care of all the educational expenses of his child.

Nandita had submitted her break-up of expenses that ran into nine pages. For the month of November 2012, her expenses were shown as Rs 5.08 lakh. She also showed the expenditure of birthday gifts and Diwali in lakhs.

"There is a difference between maintenance and luxury. She has shown her pocket expenses of Rs 1 lakh. It can be inferred that the expenses are exaggerated," the court said.

