( 1 ) THIS petition has been brought u/s 401 read with S. 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure ( the Code ) seeking quashment of the order dt. 25. 1. 85 passed by Ms. Deepa Sharma, Metropolitan Magistrate, New Delhi, by whicshe allowed the petition moved by respondent No. 1 u/s 125 of the Code and awarded maintenance to respondent No. 1 and respondent No. 2. This was an ex-parte order granting maintenance.

( 2 ) COUNSEL for the petitioner has challenged the impugned order pleading that no proper service of the notice issued u/s 125 r. w. S. 126 of the Code had been effected on the petitioner and the mode of service adopted by the M. M. by issuance of registered notices and ultimately publication of a notice in a newspaper was not in consonance with the procedure for effecting service envisaged in the provisions of the Code and thus, on the face of it the ex-parte order made against the petitioner was illegal. He has also urged that the newspaper in which the publication had been effected was an unknown newspaper and had no circulation in Ludhiana where the petitioner is admittedly residing and even no copy of the newspaper had been sent at the address of the petitioner