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Harpreet Sawhney v. Puneet Sharma

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 822Decided 10 Aug 2026
Civil Appeal Nos. (Arising out of SLP (C) Nos.31815-31816 of 2025)
Justice Sanjay Karol · Justice Nongmeikapam Kotiswar Singh · Justice Satish Chandra Sharma

Background

The appellant-wife and respondent-husband married in 2004 and have two sons; the husband left the family in 2018, and the wife filed for divorce along with an interim maintenance application. Over several years of litigation, the Family Court and then the Delhi High Court progressively increased child maintenance (from Rs.37,000 to Rs.1,25,000 per month combined) as the children's school fees and expenses rose, while the wife was also diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer in 2024. The husband repeatedly delayed paying the ordered amounts, leading the High Court to initiate contempt proceedings against him and eventually order police assistance to secure his presence in court; he ultimately tendered an unconditional apology. The wife appealed to the Supreme Court seeking further enhancement, clearer accounting of the husband's deductible income, and clarification on arrears.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court's maintenance quantum needed reconsideration on two fronts. First, it found that the husband's claimed "compulsory deductions" wrongly included Provident Fund and ESPP contributions, which are not lost income but ultimately accrue back to him and are withdrawable later: unlike income tax or professional tax, which are genuinely non-recoverable. Second, it noted the High Court's final order had dropped the earlier interim personal maintenance of Rs.20,000/month for the wife despite her ongoing cancer treatment costs, and restored/enhanced this component to Rs.30,000/month. The Court accordingly enhanced total child maintenance to Rs.1,50,000/month (Rs.75,000 per child) effective 1 January 2025, while leaving the wife free to seek further enhancement if circumstances change, and directed the husband to comply within three months.

Lesson Learnt

In maintenance disputes, only genuinely compulsory, non-refundable deductions like income tax should be subtracted from a payer's gross income before calculating disposable income: voluntary retirement/savings contributions such as Provident Fund or ESPPs, which eventually revert to the payer, cannot be used to artificially understate ability to pay.

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

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