Very recently the High court of Uttarakhand ruled out that the party has the right to be represented through its power of attorney. The bench of Justice Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice R.C. Khube. The court said that the above said approach was inappropriate and that the petitioner should put up the petition in his name and shall be present in the case while coming forward with a matrimonial case in family proceedings.
The High Court in this matter contented that there are so many judgements already stating that the petitioner has the right to represent his petition in the name of his power of attorney and that there is no harm in the above approach. Hence the High court pointed out this order of the lower court as unjust and unexpected.
Recently, the Uttarakhand HC ruled that the party has the right to be represented in proceedings under the Hindu Marriage Act, through his / her power of attorney.
The bench of Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice R.C. Khulbe was dealing with the appeal challenging the order passed by the Family Court.
In this case, the parties had jointly moved a petition for divorce by mutual consent under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
The appellant is a resident of Lexington, State Kentucky, USA. Consequently, he preferred the said petition through his power of attorney granted in favour of his father Mr. Mani Ram Arya.
The Family Court rejected the petition only on the ground that the appellant should personally prefer the petition and should remain present in Court.
The issue for consideration before the bench was:
Whether the order passed by the Family Court needs interference or not?
The bench observed that the only reason given by the Family Court for not entertaining the petition through the appellant’s father as his power of attorney was that there was no precedent by this Court on the said aspect.
High Court stated that “the Family Court is expected to deal with issues, which arise before it, without waiting for a pronouncement by this Court. There were enough precedents cited before the Family Court not only of several High Courts but also of the Supreme Court, which recognize the right of a party to be represented in proceedings under the Hindu Marriage Act, through his / her power of attorney. We find the approach of the Family Court to be completely perverse and unexpected.”
In view of the above, the bench set aside the impugned order and directed the Family Court to entertain the petition on the basis of the power of attorney furnished on behalf of the appellant of his father.
Case Title: Dr. Surjeet v. Dr. Namita
Bench: Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice R.C. Khube
Case No.: A.O. No. 376 OF 2022
Counsel for the appellant: Dr. Anurag Bhardwaj and Mr Siddharth Shah
Counsel for the respondent: Ms. Nishat Intezar and Mr. Ahrar Baig
Source: https://lawtrend.in/representation-through-power-of-attorney-in-divorce-proceedings-is-permissible-uttarakhand-hc/