The main legal point established in the judgment is the court's authority to grant a divorce by mutual consent under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, without strictly adhering to the statutory period of limitation, based on the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage and the parties' inability to reconcile.

As per Hon 'ble Shri Dhirendra Mishra, J. :-

1. This is husband's appeal under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act, 1984 against the judgment and decree dated 15-2-2007 passed by the Family Court, Bilaspur, in Civil Suit No. 2-A/2007, whereby the petitioner's application under Section 10 read with Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (for short, "the Act, 1955") for dissolution of their marriage dated 9-2-2000 by decree of divorce has been rejected.

2. Appellant/husband filed the application for divorce alleging various acts of cruelty committed by the respondent/wife as also on the ground that the respondent/wife has deserted him without any valid reason on 5th October, 2001 and since then she is residing separately with her brother and an offence under Section 498(A) of the IPC has been registered against the appellant/husband on the complaint of the respondent/wife. The appellant/husband has been acquitted in criminal case No. 1876/2002 vide judgment dated 1-7-2004 passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate, Bilaspur.

3. The respondent/wife denied the allegations in the divorce petition and made counter allegations against her husband/appellant.

4. On the basis of averments made by respective parties, issues were framed and after appreciating the oral and documentary evidence available on record, the Family Court dismissed the application for divorce with a finding that the applicant has failed to prove the factum of cruelty, and therefore, he is not entitled for either decree of judicial separation or decree of divorce and is also not entitled for custody of the daughter.

5. During pendency of this appeal, the appellant/husband and the respondent/wife have jointly filed an application under Section 13-B of the Act, 1955 for grant of decree of divorce by mutual consent wherein it has been pleaded that during pendency of this appeal the efforts of reconciliation made by the courts and the parties failed and they could not reconcile. They are residing separately since 5-10-2001 and there is no chance of reconciliation or their living together and they have never resumed cohabitation after 5-10-2001. In view of this, they have mutually agreed that their marriage may be dissolved by decree of divorce by mutual consent. They have also averred that they hereby withdraw all the allegations against each other. The appellant husband has already returned almost all the articles belonging to the respondent/wife and she has also been paid a huge sum of Rs.6 lacs to her satisfaction towards permanent alimony as contemplated under Section 25 of the Act, 1955.

6. In compliance of the order dated 30-4-2010 passed by this Court, Additional Registrar (Judicial) has recorded the statements on oath of the appellant/husband - Manoj Kedia and respondent/wife - Smt. Anupama Kedia alias Annu on 30-4-2010 and in their deposition also they have reiterated the version of their application for divorce by mutual consent under Section 13B of the Act, 1955.

7. Learned counsel for the parties submit that the application under Section 13-B of the Act, 1955 can be filed in the appeal proceedings directed against the decision of the Family Court rejecting the application for divorce, in appropriate cases where the court is of the opinion that the decree of divorce should be passed immediately in the interest of justice and in the interest of parties to the application. The condition under Section 13-B (2) of the Act, 1955 would not be an impediment as Section 13-B (2) of the Act is directory and not mandatory. Reliance is placed on K. Omprakash Vs. K. Nalini1, Smt.Krishna Khetrapal Vs. Satish Lal2 and Dineshkumar Shukla and Smt.Neeta3.

8. From the contents of the application under Section 13-B of the Act, 1955 and the statements on oath of the appellant/husband and respondent/wife, we are satisfied that the appellant and the respondent have jointly moved this application for grant of divorce on their own and free will as they could not lead peaceful marital