A woman has been advised by a Delhi court to make sincere endeavour to find a job, saying she is well-qualified and cannot be allowed to sit idle at home to put financial burden on her estranged husband. The court took into consideration that the woman, who was seeking alimony from her husband, was more qualified than him and was also an able-bodied person having capacity to earn.

District Judge Rekha Rani noted that the man, who had filed an appeal against the amount of maintenance of Rs 12,000 which he was directed to pay to his estranged wife, was now ready to help her in finding a job and had also agreed to pay Rs 12,000 per month to her for a year.

"Respondent (woman) admitted being more qualified than the appellant (man). She admitted being able-bodied person and having capacity to earn. As such she cannot be allowed to sit idle at home to put financial burden on the appellant. Let her make sincere endeavour to find work. As offered by the man, if the woman needs assistance of the appellant in finding job, she may communicate with him by sending SMS on mobile/email," the court said.

It also directed both of them to exchange their mobile numbers and email addresses, within a week of passing the order before the trial court.

"The man has agreed to pay her maintenance of Rs 12,000 per month for one year and during this period, she should make sincere efforts and start working. The impugned order is operative for one year from the date of order," the judge said.

The man had challenged the trial court's order directing him to pay Rs 12,000 per month maintenance to the woman on the ground that she was not entitled for monetary relief as she was more qualified than him and was a gold medalist in MSc. He had alleged that the woman had not applied for a job anywhere and she wanted to sit idle and remain a financial burden on him.

The woman, however, said she has never worked and will never be able to find a job as she has no experience and admitted that she has never made any effort to find one.

On the woman's submission that she has never travelled alone and wanted that the man should travel with her to help her find a job, the court said "the submission is neither palatable nor digestible".

"She is embroiled in a bitter litigation with the man..Both are coming to the court separately. If she can come to the court to fight litigation alone, she can go alone to search a job as well," the judge observed.

To this, the man said that he was willing to accompany the woman wherever she has applied for a job and to assist her in whatever way she wanted in finding a placement.