Court No. - 49
Case :- CRIMINAL REVISION No. - 955 of 2018 Revisionist :- Mohd. Raees @ Raees Abdul Opposite Party :- State Of U.P. And Another Counsel for Revisionist :- Deepak Kumar Pal,Virendra Pratap Pal Counsel for Opposite Party :- G.A.
Hon'ble Saumitra Dayal Singh,J.
The present revision has been filed against the order passed by the Principal Judge Family Court /FTC IInd Jaunpur dated 21.12.2017, whereby maintenance allowance @ of Rs. 4,000/- has been awarded to opposite party no.2 from the date of her application being 11.7.2012.
Learned counsel for the applicant submits that the award of monthly maintenance allowance @ of Rs.4000/- from the date of the application is excessive or arbitrary.
Perusal of the impugned order and the document annexed with the revision reveals that in respect of quantification of monthly maintenance allowance, it had stated by the opposite party no.2 that the applicant was employed abroad and that he has sufficient means to provide for her maintenance. In this regard, it had been further disclosed that the applicant has sufficient agricultural holding as well.
In the first place, in the affidavit filed by the present revision, it has not been denied by the applicant that he had been working abroad and deriving income there from. On the other hand, it has been stated that the applicant has been taking care of his three children. In such facts, it has been stated that the award of maintenance allowance @ of Rs.4000/- is excessive.
In the first place, the matter of earning of the applicant, it was a fact in his special knowledge, both as to the nature of his employment and also his exact earning. However, he did not bring any fact on record. From the perusal of the objection filed by the applicant it does not appear that any pleading in that regard had been made. Then, in absence of any serious dispute raised to the finding recorded by the learned Court below that the applicant had left for abroad on 9.6.2012 and had been working there, it may be assumed that the applicant was thus employed and had sufficient mean to be able to provide monthly maintenance allowance Rs.4,000/- per month.
Proceedings under Section 125 Cr.P.C. are to provide for means of sustenance to preserve human life and dignity and prevent vagrancy. Thus, a certain minimum amount as is necessary for the aforesaid purposes has to be awarded such amount has to be provided for by the person in situation of the present applicant who admittedly is an able bodied person and the husband of opposite party no.2.
Thus, the award of monthly maintenance allowance @ of Rs. 4,000/- per month does not suffer from any infirmity.
Insofar as the order has been made for payment of maintenance amount from the date of application, I do not find any error in the same in view of the fact that the application had been filed by the opposite party on 11.7.2012, which ought to have been decided within a period of 60 days from that date. However, the same has been decided more than 65 months from the date when such application was filed.
For a very long time, the opposite party did not receive any amount towards maintenance as had been claimed by her and which under law, she was entitled to. Also, even upon amount as claimed becoming payable she did not become entitled to any interest for the inordinate delay.
The cost of such delay, has to be borne by the applicant herein and not the opposite parties/claimant especially, when the law created an expectation for the application to be decided within sixty days of it being filed.
Also, there does not appear to exist any material whereby the delay caused in the proceedings may be attributed to the opposite party.
The amount of monthly maintenance allowance being minimal, it is the arrears of that allowance, when paid would be such as may be able to defray the costs of dignified existence at the sufferance of the applicant. Such expenses may be assumed to be such as would have been necessarily borne by the applicant, had the opposite party resided with him all this while.
The applicant cannot deny the care to the opposite party-his wife, for the period she has not resided with him for reason of marital discord, except if the bar of section 125 Cr. P.C. operates. No such bar operates in this case. Consequentially, though the opposite party no.2 may have stayed physically apart from the applicant, the applicant has to still bear her expences necessary to preserve her dignified human existence, keeping in mind the financial and social status of the parties.
Also, the applicant cannot be heard to say, that he would bear such expenses only from the date of the order. The applicant-an able bodied person is responsible to take care of all the financial needs of his wife from her marriage and not the date from which the court passes an order in that regard. Only upto the date, an application is made, would a defence be available to the applicant that such needs have been taken care of. Also, the learned court below has not found the opposite party to be a person with any earning to provide for her own needs.
Therefore, in my view the award of the maintenance from the date of application does not suffer from any infirmity.
Accordingly, the instant revision application is disposed of with the following directions:
1. Subject to the applicant furnishing adequate security to the tune of Rs. 3,00,000/-, in the shape of other than cash or bank guarantee, to the satisfaction of the court below, within one month from the first communication about decision in this revision or of this order, to the applicant, either by the court below or otherwise, further coercive measures adopted against the applicant shall remain stayed, subject to other conditions provided herein.
2. The applicant shall continue to pay the monthly maintenance allowance from the period April, 2018 onwards as and when it becomes due, in the manner provided by the court below under the impugned award.
3. The applicant shall further pay Rs. 16,000 /- towards maintenance allowance for the period December, 2017 to March, 2018 on or before 30.4.2018.
4. Subject to the applicant having complied with the above, the amount of Rs. 2,60,000/- (approximately) arrears of maintenance allowance for the period from the date of application till the date of order shall be deposited in eight quarterly instalments, such instalments being payable on or before 30.04.2018, 30.07.2018, 31.10.2018, 31.1.2019, 30.4.2019, 31.07.2019, 31.10.2019 and 31.1.2020 respectively. The first six instalments would be of Rs. 35,000/- each while the last instalment would be for the balance amount.
All the amounts if deposited by the applicant in the Court below shall be released to the opposite party no. 2 forthwith.
However, it is made clear that in the event of failure on part of the applicant to comply with any part of the order, coercive measures be revived from that stage without any further reference to this Court and recoveries be made first from the security, if any, offered by the applicant in compliance of this order.
Order Date :- 28.3.2018 Mini