A father is liable to pay maintenance for his child under Section 488 of the Cr. P. C., even though the child is living with the mother. The amount of maintenance should be reasonable and should take into account the cost of living.

( 1 ) SHRI D R. Khanna, Additional Sessions Judge, Delhi, has forwarded this revision to this Court with a recommendation to increase the maintenance allowance to Ashish minor fixed at Rs. 20. 00 p. m. by Shri V. N. Chaturvedi, Sub-Divisional Magis trate, Hauz Qazi, Delhi, payable by his father Shri D C. Tewari. The learned Additional Sessions Judge has recommended that the amount be increased to Rs. 50. 00 p. m.

( 2 ). Shri Tewari was maried to Smt. Mohini Tewari, mother of Ashish minor and the minor child was born on 26th November. 1964, in Delhi. Shri D. C Tewari is stated to be working as a Librarian in the Malviya Regional Engineering College at Jaipur. According to the averments in the application for maintenance, his monthly income is about Rs. 700. 00 and he has not cared to maintain his minor child. The prayer in the application which is based on total neglect and failure of his father to maintain the minor is for payment of Rs. 300. 00 p. m.

( 3 ). The father after stating the story of his marriage with the minor s mother, pleaded in the written statement that his wife and her mother had after the marriage started persuading and coercing him to live with them at their house because the minor s grandmother had no other child except his wife. They also wanted Shri Tewari to break off with his widowed mother and younger brother. To this, he obviously did not agree. When his wife saw no hope of persuading him to agree to her point of view. she left the house in August, 1964 on the pretext of Raksha Bandhan. At that time, she was in the seventh month of her pregnancy and thereafter she did not return to her matrimonial home in spite of repeated efforts to persuade her to come back. Having failed in his efforts, he filed an application for restitution of conjugal rights in October, 1965 which was decided by a Subordinate Judge, Delhi, on 29th April, 1967, when his wife made a statement that she was ready to accompany her husband to his house at Jaipur. However when Shri Tewari went to take his wife. she plainly refused to accompany him. This resulted in another application for restitution of conjugal rights in July, 1967. In those proceedings, Shri Tewari pleads to have been paying Rs. 901. 00 p. m. to his wife and child as maintenance allowance in compliance with the order of the Court. According to his case, be is earning about Rs. 540. 00 p. m. It appears from the order of the learned Magistrate that Shri Tewari also objected to the jurisdiction of the Delhi Courts on the ground that he had neither resided within the jurisdiction of the Delhi Courts nor did he last reside within. such jurisdiction with his minor child or with his wife. After considering the evidence led in the case, the learned Sub-Divisional Magistrate upheld the jurisdiction of the Delhi Courts. On the merits, after considering the arguments addressed on both sides, the learned Sub-Divisional Magistrate observed that Shri Tewari was already paying Rs. 90. 00 p m. to his wife, who is the mother of the minor-petitioner. So observing the learned Magistrate proceeded :-

"there are rulings to this effect that the maintenance does not cover high education and the better standard of living. In awarding the maintenance allowance, we have also to see the other circumstances of the respondent also. It is from the record clear that the respondent is maintaining his mother and brothers and running a second house in Delhi. He is already also paving Rs, 90. 00 per month to the petitioner s mother. So looking to these circumstances and agreeing with the arguments of the learned counsel for the petitioner I order the respondent to pay Rs. 20. 00 (Twenty) per month to the petitioner as maintenance allowance from the date of order. "this order, it may be pointed out, was made on 30th August,, 1968.

( 4 ). On revision, the learned Additional Sessions Judge observed that Shri Tewari s employed at Jaipur and his total emoluments come to Rs. 540. 00. Shri Te