1. After a marriage between the parties had been annulled on the wifes petition under Section 11 read with clause (1) of Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (hereinafter briefly referred to as the Act) on the ground that the husband had a spouse living at the time of the said marriage, the lady aggrieved (respondent in this appeal) made an application for permanent alimony and maintenance under Section 25 of the Act. She has been granted a maintenance allowance of Rs. 25/- per month by the court of first instance. The offending or the offended male has come in appeal to this Court.

2. There is no dispute as regards the rate or quantum of the maintenance allowance and considering the high prices prevailing these days, this allowance would hardly enable the respondent to subsist on starvation level. The only grievance made by the appellant, therefore, is that the marriage was void ipso jure, from this very inception and that the respondent had never acquired the status of a wife to give her the right to make an application under Section 25 of the Act.

3. The parties had lived together as husband and wife for more than a year after the mock marriage or the sham ceremony