JUDGMENT :

DIPANKAR DATTA, J.

Leave granted.

2. The present appeal assails the final judgment and order dated 5th April, 2022 of the High Court of Kerala (“High Court”, hereafter) in a matrimonial appeal¹[Matrimonial Appeal No. 847 of 2011]. The High Court partly allowed the appeal of the respondents and set aside the relief granted to the appellant by the Family Court, Alappuzha, Kerala (“Family Court”, hereafter).

3. We have noticed that the second respondent passed away on 11th July, 2022 during the pendency of this appeal; hence, the first respondent, surviving as the sole contesting respondent in the present lis, has opposed the appeal.

4. Although the parties before the Family Court were at issue on several fronts, the ambit of the dispute before us is limited as would unfold hereafter. The brief factual matrix relevant for a decision on the present appeal, discerned from the records, is as follows:

I. Marriage of the appellant and the first respondent was solemnised according to Hindu rites and customs on 4th May, 2003. For both of them, it was their second marriage. While the appellant was a widow, the first respondent was a divorcee. According to the appellant, 89 sovereigns of