Bombay HC upholds Rs 15k monthly interim maintenance to estranged wife; says ‘entitled to same standard of living'

Indian Express

4 hours ago

The Bombay High Court, while rejecting a plea that challenged a family court order directing a 36-year-old man to pay Rs 15,000 monthly interim maintenance to his estranged wife, last week observed that there was 'huge disparity' between their incomes and the woman was 'certainly entitled to be maintained with the same standard of living as she was accustomed to before their separation.'
The court said that even assuming that certain expenses were required to maintain himself and the other family members, the remaining amount was sufficient enough to enable him to support the estranged wife as per family
court order.
'Merely because the wife is earning, she cannot be deprived the support from her husband with the same standard of living to which she is accustomed to in her matrimonial home,' the HC noted.
A single-judge bench of Justice Manjusha A Deshpande on June 18 passed an order on the man's writ plea, a detailed copy of which was made available on Thursday.
The petitioner had challenged the order passed by Family Court, Bandra in August 2023, granting interim maintenance of Rs 15,000 per month to the respondent woman till disposal of the divorce proceedings.
The man claimed that the estranged wife was a working woman and was earning nearly Rs 22,000 per month along with additional income of Rs 2 lakh per annum through tuition classes and also had additional income through interests on her fixed deposits.
However, the respondent woman argued that her in-hand income after expenses was insufficient for her needs.
The bench noted that the petitioner earns much higher income of over Rs 1 lakh per month compared to the respondent woman, and his parents were not financially dependent on him.
Justice Deshpande noted that the income of the respective parties, their age, responsibilities, reasonable needs, necessities and income derived from other sources, if any, are required to be considered while determining the quantum of maintenance.
'In the present case, though the wife is earning, the said income is not sufficient for her own maintenance since she has to travel a long distance for her job. She is staying with her parents which she cannot carry on indefinitely.
Because of her meagre earnings, she is constrained to stay in the house of her brother along with her parents causing inconvenience and hardship to all of them. With such an income, she is not in a position to live a decent life,' the bench observed.