The Delhi High Court has raised a woman’s interim maintenance in a matrimonial dispute from Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,500 per month. The court found the husband’s claim that she worked as a nursery teacher without supporting evidence.
A single-judge Bench, Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma, partially granted the wife’s petition challenging the Family Court’s order of Rs 2,500 monthly maintenance. The court noted the wife’s lack of independent income and the husband’s limited earnings from an NGO job.
The court emphasized that the wife, with education up to the 11th standard, had no documented proof of being a nursery teacher as alleged by the husband. It ruled that without evidence, the husband’s claim of her employment and earnings was unsubstantiated.
Delhi High Court assessed the husband’s monthly income at around Rs 13,200, below the minimum wages for a skilled graduate. The court considered incomplete disclosure and applied minimum wages for a graduate/skilled worker in Uttar Pradesh, where the husband resided and worked.
The court determined that the Family Court’s maintenance award was insufficient, considering the husband’s income, the parties’ status, and the wife’s lack of independent income. Therefore, the interim maintenance was increased to Rs 3,500 per month, effective from the application filing date under Section 125 Cr.P.C.
Justice Sharma specified that the ruling on interim maintenance did not impact the ongoing trial proceedings.
