Chand Grover vs Sunil Kumar Grover

This is a miscellaneous application filed by the applicant seeking enhancement of maintenance. It is said that a sum of Rs. 25,000/- as maintenance per month, penalty of Rs. 15,000/- and a sum of Rs. 50,000/- as litigation expenses be granted to the petitioners.

Contending that after the maintenance was granted on 8.04.11 vide order passed in M.C.C. No. 2235/06, as the circumstances have changed and the applicants are in need of the further amount, the maintenance be enhanced.

This Court in L.P.A. No. 89/88 dismissed the divorce petition pending between the applicant no. 1 and the respondent but after taking note of the facts and circumstances granted certain maintenance @ Rs. 3,200/- per month. Thereafter, M.C.C. No. 2235/06 was filed by contending that the amount of Rs. 3,200/- per month is insufficient to maintain both the petitioners, it is also stated that petitioner no. 1 is sick and an additional amount is required for her treatment, the matter has been considered in detail by a Co-ordinate Bench of this Court and an order was passed on 8.02.11. As far as petitioner no. 2 is concerned, it was found by the Court that she is a major person and a practising advocate and, therefore, her claim for maintenance is rejected.

As far as petitioner no. 1 is concerned, considering the fact that the respondent husband is a retired employee and is earning a pension of about Rs. 27,000/- per month, the amount of maintenance which was granted earlier was enhanced to Rs. 6,000/- per month.

Now, petitioners want enhancement of maintenance mainly on the ground that petitioner no. 1 is sick, she is unable to maintain herself, huge expenses is to be incurred for her treatment and further on the ground that she did not have any place for living and certain eventualities have been indicated indicating the helplessness in maintaining the petitioners, vide I.A. No. 6247/14, documents have been filed in the matter of ailment and treatment of petitioner no. 1.

A preliminary objection was filed by respondent no. 1 and Shri D.K. Dixit submitted that in connection with the preliminary objection, certain proceedings u/s 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure are initiated in New Delhi and, therefore, this application is not maintainable.

Vide order dated 6.05.14, copies of the application filed in the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Saket Court, New Delhi are produced to show that this application is not maintainable. The applicants submit that they have filed the application at New Delhi but as no orders have been passed, they requested that they will not prosecute this case any further and it is not possible for them to prosecute the matter at New Delhi. If that be so, the applicants should immediately withdraw the proceedings from Saket Court and it is only after the said proceedings are withdrawn they should submit a copy of the order to the Principal Registrar (J). As far as maintenance in the present case is concerned, claim of petitioner no. 2 has already been rejected by this Court on 8.04.11.

That being so, we cannot grant any further maintenance to her. As far as petitioner no. 1 is concerned, admittedly, the maintenance of Rs. 6,000/- was granted to her vide order dated 8.04.11 and at that point of time, that is more than three years back, respondent husband was earning a pension of Rs. 29,000/- per month, this Court can take judicial notice of the fact that respondent husband was working in the Govt. Engineering College and during the aforesaid period of three years with the increase in dearness allowance, his pension would now have been increased by Rs. 29,000/- by atleast a sum of Rs. 6,000-8,000/- per month.

Even though, repeated opportunities have been granted to the parties, documents in support of the exact pension have been brought on record. It is heartening to note that parties were not co-operating in the matter and considering the situation created by the parties, this Court is constrained to decide the dispute. Now pension payable to the respondent would have been increased by huge Rs. 6,000-8,000/- per month during this period of three years. Taking note of the physical condition of the applicant no. 1 wife and the documents showing that she is undergoing similar treatment, it is thought appropriate to grant enhancement of maintenance by a further sum of Rs. 2,500/- per month. Accordingly, this application is allowed in part. The maintenance of Rs. 6,000/- granted by this Court in M.C.C. No. 2235/06 be enhanced by Rs. 2,500/- per month. Accordingly, the total maintenance now to be paid shall be Rs. 8,500/- per month, enhanced amount of maintenance shall be payable w.e.f. 1st January, 2014 and the amount of maintenance be paid by 15th of every month.

With the aforesaid enhancement, this application is disposed of. However, it is made clear that the amount of enhanced compensation shall be granted with a condition that the petitioners withdraw the proceedings from Saket Court, New Delhi u/s 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and files proof of its withdrawal with the Registry of this Court.

With the aforesaid, the application stands allowed and disposed of.