If the spouse is well qualified, she is not expected to remain idle: Mumbai family court judge If the spouse is well qualified, she is not expected to remain idle: Mumbai family court judge

A family court has rejected a woman’s maintenance application observing that she was highly qualified and was pursuing her MBA.

An estranged wife had approached the court seeking a permanent monthly alimony of Rs 25,000 and an equivalent amount of maintenance under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act. The woman claimed that she was forced to quit her job.

The principal judge of the family court Laxmi P Rao observed that the wife had earlier filed a petition for maintenance, but had not approached the court since 2012, when her divorce was finalised.

While rejecting the application, the judge cited a Madhya Pradesh High Court order which stated that Section 24 had been enacted for the purpose of providing monetary assistance to a spouse incapable of supporting himself or herself. “If the spouse is well qualified, she is not expected to remain idle… The law does not expect an increasing number of such idle persons who by remaining in the arena of legal battles, try to squeeze out the adversary by implementing the provisions of law suitable to their purpose,” the court cited.

The wife contended that she was forced to leave her job on August 2013 and since then, she had no source of income. She was dependent “on the mercy” of her parents and brother, she said. The estranged husband, however, argued that he had never objected to the wife working and she had left the marriage in 2012 on her own accord. Moreover, she was employed and earned an adequate salary, he added.

mumbai.newsline@expressindia.com

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