Dona Thomas vs Sam Mathew

C.S Dias, J

The transfer petition is filed under Sec.24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, seeking to transfer OP No.920/2022 (Annexure-A1) from the Family Court, Thalassery, to the Family Court, Kannur.

The petitioner’s case, in brief, in the memorandum of transfer petition is that, she is the wife of the respondent. The marital relationship is strained. The petitioner has filed OP No.474/2022 (Annexure A2), before the Family Court, Kannur, against the respondent, to declare that their marriage is null and void. Thereafter, the respondent filed Annexure A1, before the Family Court, Thalassery, against the petitioner. The respondent is contesting Annexure A2 before the Family Court, Kannur. Therefore, no inconvenience would be caused to him in Annexure A1 being transferred to the Family Court, Kannur. Hence, the transfer petition.

Heard; Sri.V.T Madhavan Unni, the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and Sri.Pranoy K.Kottaram, the learned counsel appearing for the respondent.

The law with respect to transfer of proceedings, particularly matrimonial disputes, is no longer res-integra, in view of the categoric declaration of law by the Hon'ble Supreme Court 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 N.C.V Aishwarya vs. A.S Saravana Karthik Sha [2022 (5) KHC 182]. The Hon’ble  Supreme  Court  has held that it  is the convenience of the woman and children that has to be looked into, while ordering the transfer of a case from one Court to another.

In the light of the law laid down in the afore-cited decisions, the pleadings and materials on record, the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, particularly the fact that Annexure A2 is already pending before the Family Court, Kannur and the respondent is contesting the proceeding before the said Court, I am inclined to exercise the discretionary powers of this Court under Sec.24 of the Code of Civil Procedure and order the transfer of Annexure A1, so that the cases can be consolidated and jointly tried, which would avoid conflict of decisions and save precious judicial time.

In the result, I allow the transfer petition as follows:

(i) OP No.920/2022 is transferred from the Family Court, Thalassery, to the Family Court, Kannur.

(ii) The parties would be at liberty to move the Family Court, Kannur and seek for consolidation and joint trial of all the cases between them.

(iii) The Registry shall forward a copy of this order to the Family Court, Thalassery with instructions to forthwith transmit the records in Annexure-A1 to the Family Court, Kannur.

(iv) The Family Court, Kannur, shall, immediately on receipt of the records in Annexure-A1, post the case along with Annexure A2.