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Aditi Wadhera v. Vivek Kumar Wadhera

Transfer Petition (Civil) · Neutral citation not assigned (Transfer Petition (Civil) No. 569 of 2014)Decided 4 Aug 2016
Transfer Petition (Civil) No. 569 of 2014
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman

Background

The wife had filed a transfer petition asking the Supreme Court to move her husband's divorce suit from a family court in Panchkula, Haryana to Pune, Maharashtra. While that petition was pending, the Court referred the couple to mediation, and they reached a full settlement covering money matters, pending criminal cases, and a mutual-consent divorce: the couple had lived together as husband and wife for only a few days back in 2010 and had been litigating for about five years since.

Decision Breakdown

Noting the parties had settled everything amicably, the Supreme Court used its special constitutional power under Article 142 to grant an immediate divorce by mutual consent, waiving the usual statutory waiting period under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act. It directed that several interconnected criminal cases and revisions between the parties and their relatives (filed in Pune) stand quashed or disposed of, made the 2015 settlement terms part of the decree, and lifted any travel restrictions on the parties arising from the now-quashed criminal cases.

Lesson Learnt

When both spouses genuinely agree to end a marriage and have settled all related disputes, the Supreme Court can use its special constitutional powers to grant an immediate mutual-consent divorce without making the couple wait out the standard cooling-off period, but this shortcut is only available directly from the Supreme Court, not from ordinary family courts.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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