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Kiran Jyot Maini vs. Anish Pramod Patel

Not available · 2024 INSC 530Decided 15 Jul 2024
Not available
Justice Vikram Nath · Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra

Background

A couple married in 2015, but the relationship broke down within a year amid allegations of cruelty and dowry demands, leading to an FIR and years of litigation across multiple courts over interim maintenance for the wife and her daughter. The husband allegedly failed to pay court-ordered interim maintenance for over five years, and the dispute over unpaid arrears (around Rs. 65 lakh) and competing claims about each spouse's finances reached the Supreme Court through cross-appeals.

Decision Breakdown

Both spouses told the Court in camera that the marriage had no chance of survival and consented to its dissolution. Applying its special constitutional power under Article 142, the Supreme Court held that a marriage separated for nine years with grave allegations, repeated failed mediation attempts, and mutual acknowledgment of an irretrievable breakdown, was fit to be dissolved even though no other legal ground for divorce was pursued. On maintenance, rather than resolve the arrears dispute or adopt either side's extreme figure (the wife sought Rs. 5-7 crore; the husband offered Rs. 50 lakh), the Court fixed a one-time, final settlement of Rs. 2 crore, to be paid within four months, after weighing both parties' incomes, standard of living, and dependants.

Lesson Learnt

The Supreme Court can grant a divorce directly on the ground that a marriage has irretrievably broken down using its special constitutional powers, even where the ordinary divorce law does not recognize that as a ground, and it can end years of maintenance litigation by fixing a single lump-sum settlement instead of leaving the dispute to drag on.

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

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