The court has the discretion to determine the date from which maintenance pendente lite should be granted, considering the circumstances of each case and the principles of equity and justice.

( 1 ) THIS revision raises a short question about the date of payment of maintenance pendente lite granted by the Matrimonial Court to the respondent indigent spouse, in the exercise of its jurisdiction under S. 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, (hereinafter referred to as the 'act'), i. e. from the date of the institution of the suit proceedings, date of application made under S. 24 of the Act or from the date of order passed by the court directing payment of maintenance pendente lite to the respondent.

( 2 ) THE short facts leading to this revision are as under :- the non-applicant in this revision petition Shailendra Kumar Gagele brought an action against the petitioner Smt. Indira Gagele, his wife, under S. 13 of the Act for seeking a decree of annuling the marriage.

( 3 ) SMT. Indira Gagele, it appears that after receiving the writ of summons of the suit on 26-11-1986, filed an application under Section 24 of the Act claiming maintenance pendente lite and expenses of the suit proceedings. The said application has been adjudicated by the learned Matrimonial Court, Satna, by order dated 4-8-1987, directing Shailendra Kumar Gagele to pay Rs. 200/- p. m. as maintenance pendente lite and Rs. 500/- towards expenses of the litigation.

( 4 ) IT appears that subsequent to this order an application under Section 151, C. P. C. was made by the wife for modification of the order fated 4-8-1987 to the extent that the said order be made operative from the date on which the application claiming maintenance pendente lite was filed i. e. 26-11-1986.

( 5 ) HOWEVER, by the impugned order dated 6-10-1987 while repelling the submission of the wife order for granting maintenance pendente lite was made operative from the date of the order i. e. 4-8-1987, against which this revision is filed.

( 6 ) NO doubt, there is no specific provision in Section 24 of the Act relating to the issuance of such direction in fixing the point of time from which date maintenance pendente lite be made operative i. e. either from the date of application, from the date of order or from the date of institution of the suit. It, however, leaves to the discretion of the court.

( 7 ) A bare look to the provision of Section 24 of the Act demonstrate that it has been enacted exclusively for the benefit of the poor spouse who is unable to maintain and contest the case. Therefore, it is always for such a poor spouse to avail this statutory benefit.

( 8 ) HERE it will not be out of point to state that provisions of Section 24 of the Act applies to both, the wife or the husband, as the case may be, provided the spouse has no independent income sufficient to support and meet the necessary expenses of the proceedings. This being so, application under Section 24 of the Act may be filed along with the suit by the plaintiff or even subsequently therefrom by the plaintiff. Similarly, the defendant may also avail of this provision by making application.

( 9 ) SPOUSE who is claiming decree in his/her favour, if by some reason or the other, could not file such application along with the suit, may file application subsequently claiming maintenance pendente lite from the date of institution of the suit and the court in its discretion may grant maintenance pendente lite payable from the date of the institution of the suit. But, the respondent cannot enjoy the same benefit claiming maintenance pendente lite from the date of institution of the suit. However, in the exercise of judicial discretion, court may grant maintenance pendente lite in favour of the respondent from the date of his/her first appearance in the suit, if prayer is made specifically to this effect in the application or from the date of the application.

( 10 ) THEREFORE, normally the point of time for granting maintenance pendente lite would be from the date of application. But, if specific prayer is made in the application, then the order may be made operative in consonance with the prayer made in the applicat