Deepa Rani vs Shyam N Pai

This petition is filed by the wife seeking to transfer O.P.(DIV) No.366 of 2024 (Annexure A1) instituted by the husband for divorce before the Family Court, Aluva to the Family Court, Kollam, where O.P(Others) No.1280 of 2025 (Annexure A2) instituted by the wife for return of gold and money is pending consideration. It is also submitted that the wife has filed M.C No.38 of 2025 (Annexure A3) invoking the provisions of the DV Act before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kollam.

The petitioner’s case is that she finds it difficult to travel to Aluva, which is more than 188 kilometres from her residence; she seeks the transfer as noted above.

Heard both sides.

The Hon'ble Supreme Court has time and again held that it is the convenience of women and children that has to be looked into while ordering transfer of the case from one court to another, particularly in matrimonial disputes. [See the judgments in Sumitha Sing V. Kumar Sanjay and another [2002 KHC 1889], Mona Aresh Goel V. Aresh Satya Goel [2000 KHC 1835], Vaishali Shridhar Jagtap V. Shridhar Vishwanath Jagtap [2016 KHC 6489], Santhini V. Vijaya Venkatesh [2017 (5) KHC 48] and Aiswarya N.C.V. v. A.S. Saravana Karthik Sha [2022 (5) KHC 185(SC)].

Given the above and taking note of the fact that O.P(Others) No.1280 of 2025 (Annexure A2), instituted by the wife, is already pending before the Family Court, Kollam and since the aforesaid proceedings arise from the same matrimonial relationship and involve common questions of fact and evidence, it is expedient and in the interest of justice that the transfer petition is allowed, which will also prevent multiplicity of proceedings, duplication of evidence, unnecessary inconvenience to parties, possibility of conflicting findings and undue delay in the administration of justice. Accordingly,the transfer petition is allowed as follows:-