Maintenance Granted To Husband In Divorce Case: Bombay High Court 91 8877001993

In Indian society, it is generally well-known that the concept of maintenance pertains more to a woman being upheld amidst society, although a husband can stake a claim for its series of rights that will be relayed. Equality indeed does prevail under Indian law, so both husband and wife are entitled to ask for their respective maintenance under the law. But the grounds upon which a husband can agitate a case of maintenance are couched in severe conditions.

What is Maintenance to Husband?

• Article 39 of the Indian Constitution, which falls within the notion of the Directive Principles of State Policy, inter alia, brought the State to aim at policies whereby its citizens, men and women alike, got an adequate means of subsistence; that childhood and youth are shielded from exploitation and from material and moral desertion; those children be provided with the means and opportunities to grow up in a healthy and respectable way. 
• The two provisions worth mentioning, while discussing the maintenance to husbands, are Sections 24 and 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Both these provisions are gender-neutral in their approach and could therefore be invoked in maintenance suits involving matrimonial disputes where the husband is the aggrieved party.

Case Law on Maintenance to Husband

In Bhagyashri v. Jagdish decided by the Bombay High Court on 2022, the following facts were presented:

• They married on April 17, 1992, and received a divorce after the wife reached the court and filed for divorce in 2015, claiming cruelty on the part of the husband. Upon the dissolution of marriage, the husband filed for permanent alimony amounting to Rs 15,000 per month from the wife.
• The husband alleged that he had virtually no source of income while she was an M.A. B.Ed. and was employed in a university. In particular, he stated that he put away his own ambition and took care of the house to motivate the wife in her studies. Further, he stated the divorce only caused embarrassment for him. The husband also added that he was unwell and did not own any kind of immovable property.
• The wife countered that the husband owned an auto-rickshaw and a grocery store and rented them out for an income supplement; and she herself had the obligation to uphold their daughter.
• The judge went on to say that the husband's application under section 24 of the Act under which the wife claims interim litigation costs was maintainable. The judge therefore directed the husband to pay her a maintenance allowance of Rs. 3000 till the hearing about permanent alimony proceedings.
• In another direction, the court ordered the headmaster to pay the court the dues with arrears.

Observation by the Court 

• The bench restated section 25, which allows an application for alimony at any time. This means that divorce would not preclude the court from hearing the application. It cannot, therefore, be said that the scope of Section 25 will be restricted by declaring that divorce or dissolution of marriage elicits no proceedings by the wife or the husband.
• Finally, the bench held that the civil judge rightly entertained the plea for interim maintenance under Section 24.
• Since Section 25 is meant for destitute husband/wife, the provisions would have to be construed widely so as to salvage remedial entailments, the contention of the learned counsel stood no chance of proceeding and it remains open for the judge to deal with an application by the husband under Section 25 of the Act of 1955. 
• The learned Judge rightly allowed the application for interim maintenance by the husband under Section 24 of the Act of 1955 and interim maintenance was granted by the husband while the proceedings under Section 25 were pending.

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