Point of Law: Family and Personal Law - Permanent alimony – Enhancement of – Court find no merit in this contention as applicant is getting a monthly pension of only Rs.1000/- per month from the Government of Himachal Pradesh under Social Security Pension Scheme known as ‘Ekal Nari Pension” and not Rs. 3000/- as alleged by respondent. That apart, this Scheme is Social Security Scheme at instance of Government, therefore, non-applicant/respondent cannot take any credit or advantage of such scheme.

JUDGMENT :

Tarlok Singh Chauhan, J.

The applicant has filed this application under Section 25 (2) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (for short the ‘Act’) for the enhancement of the permanent alimony and seeking further directions/clarifications in terms of the liberty reserved vide judgment dated 19.11.2001.

2. The brief facts leading to the filing of the present application are that the parties to this application got separated from each other and their marriage was dissolved by a decree of divorce granted by this Court vide judgment dated 08.08.1980 passed in FAO No. 4 of 1977 which was upheld in LPA No. 5 of 1980. However, the application under Section 25 of the Act instituted by the applicant/appellant for permanent alimony in LPA No. 5 of 1980 was allowed by this Court vide judgment dated 29.08.1980 on the following terms:-

“(i). The respondent shall pay maintenance of Rs.300/- per mensem to the appellant for the period 01.07.1980 to 28.02.1982, the maintenance pertaining to a particular month shall be payable by the 10th of the succeeding month.

(ii) The respondent shall deposit Rs.36,000/- in the Court of the District Judge, Mandi on or before 22.08.1982 and on such deposit being made the liability of the respondent to pay any maintenance for the further period shall come to an end.

(iii) The amount of Rs.36,000/- if deposited by the respondent within the period aforesaid in the Court of the District Judge, shall be invested by that Court in a fixed deposit earning monthly interest with some scheduled bank. The deposit shall be made by the Court in its own name. The Court shall draw monthly interest and pay the same to the appellant till her remarriage or till her death whichever contingency occurs earlier. On the death or remarriage of the appellant, the principal, alongwith interest, if any, accrued for the period subsequent to the remarriage or death of the appellant shall be paid back to the respondent. The District Judge shall in the first instance invest this amount for a period of 7 years and may renew it from time to time as the contingency may require.

(iv) In case the respondent fails to deposit the aforesaid amount of Rs.36,000/- on or before 22.08.1982, the appellant shall be entitled to recover in lump sum Rs.30,000/- towards her permanent alimony.

3. After some time, the applicant/appellant had filed an application which was registered as CMP No. 83 of 1998 for rescinding the decision dated 29.08.1980, however, the same was dismissed vide order dated 13.10.1998 and the applicant was directed to approach the appropriate Court/forum as permissible under law.

4. Accordingly, the applicant approached the learned District Judge, Mandi and filed an application under Section 25(2) of the Act but the same was dismissed and aggrieved by this dismissal, the applicant filed the appeal i.e. FAO (HMA) No. 50 of 2001 before this Court.

5. This appeal was disposed of as having been compromised between the parties outside the Court. As per the compromise/agreement so arrived at between the parties, the non-applicant/ respondent agreed and undertook to deposit a further sum of Rs.1,50,000/- on or before 31.03.2002 in addition to Rs.36,000/- already deposited by him as per the decision dated 29.08.1980 passed in LPA No. 5 of 1980.

6. This Court vide judgment dated 19.11.2001 has held that the applicant is entitled to interest on this total sum of Rs.1,86,000/- w.e.f. 01.04.2001 till her life time or till her remarriage and Clause (iii) of the decision dated 29.08.1980 was modified. In addition thereto, non-applicant/respondent also agreed to pay a sum of Rs.10,000/- towards the total claim of enhanced maintenance to the applicant upto 31.03.2002 on or before 31.12.2001.

7. This Court while disposing of the appeal vide judgment dated 19.11.2001 observed that in case of any difficulty liberty was reserved to the parties to approach the Court for seeking further directions/clarifications.

8. In this background the instant application has be