Jaspreet Kaur vs Sandeep Singh

Arvind Singh Sangwan, J

The lawyers have decided to abstain from work today.

Prayer in this petition is for transfer of the petition filed by the respondent-husband under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, pending before the Family Court, Malerkotla to the competent Court of jurisdiction at Patiala.

It is stated that a minor son is residing in the care and custody of the petitioner and she, on account of a matrimonial discord, has filed a petition under Section 125 Cr.P.C. at Samana, Patiala, which is pending. It is further stated that the respondent-husband has filed the present petition under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act at Malerkotla in order to harass the petitioner. It is further submitted that the petitioner is facing great difficulty in prosecuting the said case, as there is a distance of about 65 Kms between the aforesaid two places.

It is well settled that while considering the transfer of a matrimonial dispute/case at the instance of the wife, the Court is to consider family condition of the wife, custody of the minor child, economic condition of the wife, her physical health and earning capacity of the husband and most important, convenience of the wife i.e. she cannot travel alone without assistance of a male member of her family, connectivity of the place to and fro from her place of residence as well as bearing of the litigation charges and travelling expenses.

Accordingly, considering the fact that issuance of notice to the respondent has the consequences of staying further proceedings before the trial Court, otherwise the petitioner-wife will have to bear the litigation expenses and transportation expenses and in view of the fact that in case notice of motion is issued, even the respondent/husband has to bear the litigation expenses, this Court deems it appropriate to allow the present petition, with the following directions:-

(i) The petition filed under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, pending before the Family Court, Malerkotla will be transferred to the competent Court of jurisdiction at Patiala.

(ii) The District Judge, Patiala will assign the said petition to the competent Court of jurisdiction.

(iii) The Family Court, Malerkotla is directed to transfer all the record pertaining to the aforesaid case to District Judge, Patiala.

(iv) The parties are directed to appear before the trial Court at Patiala within a period of 01 month from today.

(v) The Courts concerned, where the cases are pending between the parties, will accommodate them with one date in a calendar month.

However, liberty is granted to the respondent-husband to revive this petition, if he intends to contest the same, provided that:-

(i) The respondent will clear all the arrears of maintenance amount, if any, in terms of the petition filed by the petitioner either under Section 125 Cr.P.C. or Section 12 of the Domestic Violence Act or Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act.

(ii) The respondent will file an affidavit giving undertaking to pay Rs.1,000/- per day, to the petitioner for attending the Court proceedings at Malerkotla, on each and every date of hearing.

(iii) The respondent will bring a demand draft of Rs.25,000/- towards the litigation expenses of the petitioner to pursue the case at Malerkotla, in case the respondent opts to contest this petition.