Maintenance - Ad-interim maintenance cannot be granted under Section 18 of the act where relationship between the parties are seriously in dispute.

1. Present revision petition has been filed against the order passed by the learned trial Court vide which the respondent has been granted interim maintenance at the rate of Rs. 3000/- per month from the date of filing of the application.

2. The respondent had filed a petition under Section 18 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (for short the Act) for the grant of maintenance on the ground that the respondent was married to the petitioner on 7-4-1988 in accordance with the Hindu rites and custom at Ayyappa Temple Sector 23, Faridabad. It was the case of the petitioner that after the marriage, the parties resided together for about 4-5 years and the plaintiff has got 2 issues. It was also the case of the respondent/plaintiff that she had two issues, a son and a daughter, which were adopted by the petitioner.

3. The factum of marriage was disputed by the petitioner and it was his case that the parties were never married and the present application has been made to black mail the petitioner. It was further the case of the petitioner that a false case under Sections 494 and 506, IPC etc. was registered against the petitioner by the respondent.

4. The learned trial Court by relying upon a judgment of Supreme Court in Gokal Chand V/s. Pawan Kumari, AIR 1952 SC 231 raised a presumption of marriage and accordingly accepted the application for interim maintenance. The operative part of the order passed by the trial Court reads as under :

"6. The Hon ble Supreme Court in Gokal Chand V/s. Pawan Kumari, AIR 1952 SC 231 has held that continuous cohabitation of man and woman as husband and wife and their treatment as such for number of years may raise presumption of marriage. Following these observations, and on perusal of documents placed on record by the plaintiff, a presumption of relationship of plaintiff and defendant as husband and wife is liable to be raised. It may also be added here that although there is no provision of grant of interim maintenance in the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 pending final decision of the proceedings yet the Court by virtue of the duty or render fair justice and on exercise of this inherent power under Section 151, CPC has wide discretion to grant interim relief. Citation to the effect is reported in Antu Ram V/s. Usha Rani 2000 (2) CCC 24 (P and H). Moreover, the present application filed by the applicant-plaintiff is duly supported by an affidavit of the plaintiff which prima facie proves her case for grant of interim maintenance."

5. Mr. D. S. Bali, Senior Advocate with Mr. G. S. Malik, Advocate vehemently challenged the order of ad-interim maintenance primarily on the plea that no ad-interim maintenance can be granted to the petitioner as the factum of marriage is in dispute. In support of his argument he placed reliance on a judgment of this Court in Makhan Singh V/s. Jagdish Kaur, 1991 (3) R Cri R 244 wherein it was held that the Court has no power to award interim maintenance pending decision of the petition under the Act. This Court in the above mentioned judgment had relied upon the judgment of Hon ble High Court of Andhra Pradesh in Gorivelli Appanna V/s. Gorivelli Seethamma, AIR 1972 AP 62.

6. Mr. R. K. Jain, learned counsel for the respondent on the other hand submitted that the learned trial Court has the right to grant ad interim maintenance by relying upon the judgment of this Court reported in Bohar Singh V/s. Balwinder Kaur 2000 (4) RCR (Civil) 172, wherein it has been held as under :

"8. The ratio of all these judgments is to the effect that though the Act does not provide for grant of interim maintenance pending the final decision of the proceedings yet the Court by virtue of its duty to render fair justice and its inherent power, under Section 151, CPC has wide discretion to grant interim relief. The consensus of opinion seems to be that power to grant interim maintenance was within the width and amplitude of Section 18 of the Act and while exercising t