Is a spouse who is capable of earning money but staying jobless should pay maintenance ?
The Court further observed that the Hindu Marriage Act's (HMA) gender-neutral maintenance provision allows both wives and husbands to request relief while court cases are pending.
Delhi High Court made the observation that a spouse who is capable of earning a living but chooses to be jobless without providing enough justification shouldn't be allowed to burden the other spouse with maintenance costs.
The statement was made by the division bench of Justices V Kameswar Rao and Anoop Kumar Mendiratta when they reduced the maintenance that a wife was awarded by a family court while her husband's divorce case was pending.
According to the bench, "the spouse with a reasonable earning capacity who chooses to stay jobless and idle without providing adequate justification or demonstrating genuine efforts to obtain employment should not be permitted to burden the other party with one-sided responsibility of meeting out the expenses."
The Court further stated that the goal of determining maintenance is to relieve the spouse who is unable to support herself while the case is pending, rather than to determine the amount with "mathematical precision."
It further mentioned that the Hindu Marriage Act's (HMA) gender-neutral maintenance clause applies to all parties during the course of legal proceedings. It further stated that the rights, obligations, and liabilities resulting from the couples' marriage are covered by HMA Sections 24 and 25.
The husband had appealed to the High Court, arguing that he should not have been required to pay his wife ₹30,000 a month while the divorce was pending.
The husband's attorney argued that the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act required him to pay his wife ₹21,000, and that amount was increased to ₹30,000 throughout the HMA procedures.
The husband claimed to be low income and mentioned that his wife had graduated from Delhi University and had previously made ₹25,000 working as a hospital receptionist.
The appellant, a husband, needs to return the debt he took out for his brother's marriage in addition to providing for his sisters, brother, and elderly parents, the court was informed.
In response, the wife's attorney stated that her current employer, a hospital, did not pay her for her job as a social worker.
The husband's wage after deductions and recoveries was only ₹56,492, the court found after reviewing the submissions and record. It further stated that there was no justification provided by the Family Court for raising the amount of maintenance he must pay his divorced wife.
The Court stated that the husband's obligations to his other family members cannot be disregarded, as there was no evidence to support the claim that the deductions from his wages were only made following the couple's legal disputes.
The Court stated that although the wife has a decent educational background from Delhi University and "appears to have voluntarily undertaken social work as claimed despite there being no impediment for undertaking a meaningful employment," it does not address the woman's earning potential.
The Court consequently lowered the interim maintenance from ₹30,000 to ₹21,000. In light of inflation and growing costs, the Court did state that maintenance will automatically increase by ₹1,500 per month in the following year.
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