The court has the discretion to waive the six months waiting period for divorce by mutual consent if certain conditions are fulfilled.

JUDGMENT

Vinit Kumar Mathur, J. - This writ petition has been preferred on behalf of the petitioner being aggrieved with the order dated 28.05.2022 passed by the Family Court No. 1, Jodhpur (for short 'the court below') in Civil Case No. 357/2022, whereby the joint application filed by the petitioner and the respondent (hereinafter "parties") for waiver of six months period prescribed under Section 13-B(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (for short 'the Act of 1955) has been dismissed.

2. Learned counsel for the respondent Mr. Praveen Bhati has submitted that the respondent is also aggrieved with the order impugned and this writ petition has been filed with the consent of the respondent. Mr. Bhati has submitted that he has no objection if the relief prayed for in this writ petition is granted.

3. Brief facts of the case are that the marriage of the parties was solemnized as per Hindu customs on 27.04.2016 in Dhariyawad, District Pratapgarh. It appears that soon after the marriage, the relations of the parties became strained and both of them have been residing separately since 25.06.2020.

4. Despite the best efforts of the parties to restore conjugal relations and in spite of regular counselling by their near relatives the matrimonial dispute between them could not be settled and therefore the parties jointly filed an application under Section 13-B of the Act of 1955 seeking divorce by mutual consent before the court below on 11.04.2022.

5. The court below registered the said application on 25.04.2022 and fixed the next date as 15.10.2022 for second motion of the parties.

6. In the meantime, the parties preferred a joint application on 06.05.2022, praying for waiver of six months' statutory period specified under Section 13-B(2) of the Act of 1955. Arguments on the said application were heard and the court below dismissed the said application vide its order dated 28.05.2022.

7. The judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court rendered in the case of Amardeep Singh v. Harveen Kaur, reported in (2017) 8 SCC 746 was placed before the court below, however, the court below observed that since the facts of Amardeep Singh's case (supra) are distinguishable from the facts of the present case and no extraordinary situation exists in the present case, the application seeking waiver of six months' statutory period specified under Section 13-B(2) of the Act of 1955 cannot be granted.

8. Being aggrieved with order dated 28.05.2022, the present writ petition has been preferred before this Court.

9. Learned counsel for the parties have submitted that both, the petitioner and the respondent are highly educated persons and both of them have decided to end their marriage by mutual consent after due deliberations. It is also submitted that the decision by the parties to end their marriage has not been taken in a hurry and reconciliation between the parties is highly unlikely. It is further submitted that the conditions set out in Amardeep Singh's case (supra) under which statutory period of six months, as specified under Section 13-B(2) of the Act of 1955, can be waived are fulfilled in the present case and the court below has erred in refusing waiver of the six months' statutory period.

10. The counsels for the parties have therefore prayed that the order impugned be set aside and the court below be directed to condone the waiver of the statutory period specified under Section 13-B(2) of the Act of 1955.

11. Heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the impugned order.

12. The Hon'ble Supreme Court in Amardeep Singh's case (supra) has held as under:-

"19. Applying the above to the present situation, we are of the view that where the Court dealing with a matter is satisfied that a case is made out to waive the statutory period under Section 13-B(2), it can do so after considering the following:

i) the statutory period of six months specified in Section 13-B(2), in addition to the statutory period of one year under Section 13-B(1) of separation of parties is