Jawahar Lal Gupta, C.J.

1. Is a Christian father under an obligation to maintain his minor child ? More than three decades back, a Full Bench of this Court had considered this question in The Commissioner of Income Tax, Kerala v. P.M. Paily Pillai , 1972 K.L.T. 24 (F.B.). Following an earlier decision of Division Bench in Chacko Daniel v. Daniel Joshua , 1952 K.L.T. 595, it was held that the duty of the father was an imperfect obligation. It was not an actionable wrong. Thus, it was concluded that “there is no legal obligation on the part of the Christian father to maintain his minor child”. Accordingly, the question was answered in the negative. The correctness of this view was questioned in these two cases. It was pointed out that discordant notes had been struck after the decision in Paily Pillai’s case . The issue was referred to a Full Bench. Initially, the matter was listed before a Bench of three Judges. However, in view of the fact that a Full Bench had already considered the matter, the case was placed before this Bench.

2. Thefacts may be briefly noticed.

3. On April 29, 1979, Ms. Rosamma and Mr. Mathew Varghese were married. After having stayed together for