A Mumbai sessions court recently reversed an interim order passed by a magistrate directing the husband to pay ₹ 10,000 as maintenance to his estranged wife after observing that the wife was substantially making more income than her husband.
Additional sessions judge SB Pawar observed that the aim of granting maintenance is to ensure that a dependent spouse is not reduced to destitution or vagrancy on account of the failure of a marriage.
The decisive factors for the maintenance amount included the reasonable needs of a wife, whether she has an independent income source, the financial capacity of the husband, etc.
However, in the present case, the Court observed that the difference between the income earned by the wife and the husband was huge; and the wife was earning more than her husband.
The Court noted, “In the present case, the income of both parties is highly disproportionate. The wife owns a business concern and her annual income for the year 2020-2021 is shown as ₹89,35,720. The husband’s income before filing the application is about ₹3,50,000 and that too as a salary from the wife’s business.”
Judge Pawar opined that the magistrate couldn’t consider the healthy financial position of the wife while passing the maintenance order and thus, subsided it.
The Sessions judge also said, “The magistrate proceeded to grant interim maintenance which in my view is not as per the settled principles of law. I come to the conclusion that the order is not just, legal and reasonable.”
The observations were made in an appeal in which a magistrate court order was challenged under the Domestic Violence Act.
The wife had made allegations of mental abuse and also claimed that she had been held at ransom when asked for a divorce. She said that the husband had also demanded ₹4 crores from her.
However, the husband denied these allegations and made counter-allegation to his wife that she had multiple affairs.
In December, the magistrate’s court had granted her interim maintenance. Aggrieved by the order, the husband moved the sessions court in appeal.
The sessions court then set aside the maintenance order based on the observation that the wife was financially sound and was making sufficient income to support herself.
Source: https://www.barandbench.com/news/mumbai-court-sets-aside-maintenance-order-wife-earns-more-than-husband