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1986 Supreme(AP) 405

Andhra Pradesh High Court
Judges : K.A.SWAMI, V.BHASKARA RAO
Sri Jagannadha Prasad - Appellant
Versus
S.Lalitha Kumari - Respondent
A.A. Nos. 825/81 & 324/83
Decided On : 10-15-86
Advocates Appeared :
Mr. M. S. K. Sastry,Mr. A. Satyanarayana Rao

Headnote:HINDU MARRIAGE ACT, Secs. 23-A and 25 - Scope of Dismissal of petition for divorce filed by husband - Petition· by wife for maintenance under Section 25 -- Can be ordered.

       Held : Section 25 from its express language empowers every Court deciding a matrimonial matter to give the relief of maintenance to either party irrespective of the fact whether the petition for any reliefs mentioned in Section 9 to 13 is dismissed or allowed, whether the relief are granted or declined. The passing of any decree includes passing of a dismissal of the petition and the decree may be a decree allowing the petition or dismissing the same. The words "any decree" in Sec. 23-A takes in both kinds of decrees. Otherwise, the words will be "any decree" but merely "a decree".

       A.I.R. 1963 Cal. 428; A.I.R. 1964 Bom 83; A.I.R.1967 Ori. 163; A.I.R. 1973 Raj. 3; and A.I.R. 1979 P & H 206 dissented from.

       1971 (1) A.L.T. 233 held obiter.

       A.A.Os. Dismissed.

AMARESWARI, J.

( 1 ) THESE two Civil Miscellaneous arise out of connected C. M. A. No. 825 of 1981 is filed against the order dt. 19-8-1981 in O. P. No. 16 of 1979 dismissing the petition filed by the husband for divorce. C. M. A. No. 324 of 1983 is filed against the order in I. A. No. 203 of 1981 dt. 12-4-83 in O. P. No. 16 of 1979 granting maintenance to the wife. In both the appeals the husband is the appellant.

( 2 ) WE will first take up C. M. A. No. 825 of 1981. The parties were married on 1-6- 1975 at Srikakulam. The respondent is the appellant s step-sisters daughter and is a native of Bhilaspur. The parties lived happily for a year. The case of the appellant is that the respondent was taken by her father for Dasara, one year after the marriage and never sent her back. The respondent s father was always insisting that some property should be kept in the name of the respondent and he was more interested in money than his daughter s happy marital life. In spite of repeated requests, the respondent never returned from her parents house. He seeks for dissolution of the marriage on the ground of desertion. The respondent filed a counter stating that the appellant developed illicit intimacy with one Parvathi and he had a son through her. Later he brought Parvathi and the son and they started living together in the same house. Unable to bear this, the respondent went to her parents house. She filed a petition for maintenance under S. 125, Cr. P. C. , and the same was pending. The respondent stated that she left the house not on her own, but due to the intolerable behaviour of the husband.

( 3 ) THE appellant examined three witnesses including himself and so also the respondent. No documents are marked for the appellant. For the respondent Exs. B-1 to B-13 are marked. On a consideration of the evidence on record, the trial Court held that there was reasonable cause for the respondent to live away from the husband and to withdraw her society, that she was not guilty of desertion, that she left the marital home as the husband kept a concubine by name Parvathi, through whom he got a child and they were living in the same house. The trial Court held that the plea of desertion is not substantiated and on the other hand, it was the appellant that was responsible for breakdown of the marriage. In reaching this conclusion, the trial Court relied upon the letters written by the appellant himself to the wife and her father in which he made several admissions that he was living with Parvathi and begot a child. The Court also relied upon the decree and judgments in several proceedings between Parvathi and her husband and ultimately the said Parvathi divorced her husband. We have gone through the evidence once again. The reasons given by the trial Judge for the conclusions reached by him are unassailable. In fact, no serious attempt is made to challenge the findings. We find no merit at all in the appeal. It is accordingly dismissed. C. M. A. No. 324 of 1983 : -

( 4 ) SUBSEQUENT to the dismissal of O. P. for divorce, the wife filed I. A. No. 203 of 1981 in the same O. P. for maintenance under S. 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act. She claimed a lumpsum of Rs. 50,0000/- or a sum of Rs. 500/- per month towards permanent alimony.

( 5 ) THE appellant filed a counter stating that the order in the divorce O. P. is pending in the High Court, that he does not own any properties and that the Court has no jurisdiction as the appeal is pending against the divorce proceedings. The trial Court by order dated 12-4-1983 allowed the petition and awarded a sum of Rs. 500/- per month for the rest of her life as long as she remains unmarried. Aggrieved thereby, the husband filed this appeal.

( 6 ) THE main contention of the learned Counsel for the appellant Mr. K. Nageswara Rao is that the impugned order is without jurisdiction inasmuch as the main O. P. for divorce is dismissed. It is contended that the relief under S. 25 is ancillary to the relief sought in the m













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