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Sanjay Kumar Sinha v. Asha Kumari & Anr.

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 316Decided 9 Apr 2018
Civil Appeal No. 3658 of 2018
Justice R.K. Agrawal · Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre

Background

A husband had filed for divorce against his wife, which was still pending before the Family Court at Begusarai. During that pending case, the wife sought and was granted interim ("pendente lite") monthly maintenance for herself and their minor daughter under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act. The husband's challenge to that maintenance order failed before the Patna High Court, so he appealed to the Supreme Court. Separately, the wife had also obtained a maintenance order for a smaller amount under Section 125 CrPC from a different family court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court finally disposed of this specific appeal, about the interim maintenance order, not the divorce itself, by directing the Family Court to decide the main divorce case within six months, and clarifying that once the Section 24 maintenance order was passed, the earlier, separate Section 125 CrPC maintenance order stood superseded and no longer applied. It fixed the husband's interim payment obligation at Rs. 8,000 per month (split between wife and daughter) to be paid in cash, with an additional Rs. 4,000 per month to be secured rather than paid immediately, ordered arrears to be cleared within a month, and left the question of permanent maintenance to be decided later based on the main case's outcome. The Court expressly gave no opinion on the merits of the divorce case itself, leaving that for the Family Court to decide on evidence.

Lesson Learnt

When a spouse is receiving maintenance from two different proceedings (a family court Hindu Marriage Act order and a separate criminal-law CrPC order) for the same period, the later, more specific maintenance order generally supersedes the earlier one: maintenance isn't meant to be stacked from multiple orders covering the same time period.

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

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