SHALINI PHANSALKAR JOSHI, J.

1. With consent of learned counsel for the parties, heard finally at the stage of admission itself.

2. Admit.

3. A very short question raised for consideration in this Second Appeal is, whether in a suit filed under Section 2 of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, the Civil Court was competent to grant the relief of maintenance and the relief in respect of matrimonial property of the spouses, for which other statutory enactments and other forums are available?

4. This Second Appeal is directed against the judgment and order dated 06.12.2016 passed by the District Judge-5, Thane, in Civil Appeal No. 56 of 2016 which was preferred against the judgment and order dated 11.02.2013 passed by the 9th Joint Civil Judge, Senior Division, Thane, in Special Civil Suit No. 257 of 2011.

5. The said suit was filed by the Respondent-wife, herein, under Section 2 of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 (hereinafter referred as “the Act”), seeking divorce on the ground of cruelty. In the plaint itself, she has claimed the return of Meher Amount, the maintenance for her two minor children and half share in the flat jointly owned by her and the Ap