Wife Not Entitled to Interim Maintenance for Period She Was Employed: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that interim maintenance under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act cannot be granted for a period when the wife was employed and earning an income. However, the Court upheld the maintenance amount of ₹5,000 per month, directing that it would be payable from July 1, 2024, after she became unemployed.

A Division Bench comprising Justice Vivek Chaudhary and Justice Renu Bhatnagar partly allowed the appeal against the Family Court’s order, which had directed payment of ₹5,000 per month from January 8, 2021.

Background

The parties were married on October 25, 2015, and had a daughter born in August 2016. They had been living separately since November 2020. The wife subsequently initiated divorce proceedings and also sought interim maintenance under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act.

The Family Court had directed the husband to pay ₹5,000 per month as interim maintenance from January 8, 2021, the date on which the maintenance application was filed, until disposal of the divorce proceedings.

The husband challenged the order, particularly the assessment of his income at ₹22,000 per month and the direction to pay maintenance retrospectively from January 2021. He argued that the wife had been working at a Bata showroom and earning ₹7,000 per month.

The High Court considered the principles governing interim maintenance and noted that courts may have to make a reasonable assessment of a party’s income when complete financial information is not available.

Referring to Supreme Court decisions including Jasbir Kaur Sehgal v. District Judge, Dehradun and Rajnesh v. Neha, the Bench observed that income assessment in maintenance proceedings cannot always be made with mathematical precision.

The Bench also rejected the challenge to the assessment of the husband’s income at ₹22,000 per month. It noted that there was no credible evidence establishing a lower earning capacity. The salary certificate relied upon by him, showing an income of ₹16,500 per month, was not considered sufficient by itself because it was unsupported by other documentary evidence.

"Mathematical precision is secondary as the provision aims at delivering justice to the aggrieved party which has no financial support."

The Court, however, found merit in the husband’s challenge concerning the period for which maintenance had been awarded.

The record showed that the wife had worked as a sales helper at a Bata showroom from March 2020 until June 2024, earning ₹7,000 per month. The Court noted that she was therefore employed and earning when she filed her maintenance application in January 2021.

The Bench accordingly held that she was not entitled to interim maintenance for the period from January 8, 2021, to June 2024.

The Delhi High Court partly allowed the appeal and modified the Family Court’s order. It directed that the wife would receive ₹5,000 per month as interim maintenance from July 1, 2024, the date from which she became unemployed.

The Court directed that the remaining terms and conditions of the Family Court’s order would continue and disposed of the appeal along with the pending applications.