The convenience of the woman and children is the primary consideration in deciding transfers of matrimonial disputes between family courts.

ORDER

The transfer petition is filed under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (in short, “Code”), seeking to transfer OP No.1699/2019 (Annexure A1) from the Family Court, Thiruvananthapuram to the Family Court, Ernakulam.

2. The petitioner’s case in brief, in the memorandum of transfer petition is that, she is the wife of the respondent. They have two children born in the wedlock. The petitioner and the children are residing in Ernakulam. The petitioner has already filed MC No.148/2022 (Annexure A2) and the respondent has filed OP (GW) No.940/2022 (Annexure A3) before the Family Court, Ernakulam, seeking an order of maintenance and an order for the custody of the children, respectively. Since the respondent is contesting Annexures A2 and A3 before the Family Court, Ernakulam, no inconvenience would be caused to him in Annexure A1 being transferred. Hence, the transfer petition.

3. Heard; Sri.C.D.Dileep, the learned Counsel appearing for the petitioner and Sri. Abdul Rasheed, the learned Counsel appearing for the respondent.

4. The law with respect to transfer of proceedings, particularly matrimonial disputes, is no longer res- integra, in view of the categoric declaration of law by the Hon'ble Supreme Court inSumitha Sing V. Kumar Sanjay and another [2002 KHC 1889] , Mona Aresh Goel V. Aresh Satya Goel [2000 KHC 1835] , Vaishali Shridhar Jagtap V. Shridhar Vishwanath Jagtap [2016 KHC 6489] ,Santhini V. Vijaya Venkatesh [2017 (5) KHC 48] andN.C.V. Aishwarya vs. A.S. Saravana Karthik Sha [2022 (5) KHC 185] . The Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that it is the convenience of the woman and children that has to be looked into, while ordering the transfer of a case from one Court to another.

5. In the light of the law laid down in the afore-

cited decisions, the uncontroverted pleadings and materials on record, the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, especially the fact that Annexures A2 and A3 are already pending before the Family Court, Ernakulam and the respondent is contesting the proceedings before the said Court, I am inclined to exercise the discretionary powers of this Court under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure and order the transfer of Annexure-A1 from the Family Court, Thiruvananthapuram to the Family Court, Ernakulam, so that the cases can be consolidated and jointly tried, which would save precious judicial time and avoid conflict of decisions.

In the result, I allow the transfer petition as follows:-

(i) OP No.1699/2019 is transferred from the Family Court, Thiruvananthapuram to the Family Court, Ernakulam.

(ii) The parties would be at liberty to move the Family Court, Ernakulam and seek for consolidation and joint trial of all the cases between them.

(iii) The Registry shall forward a copy of this order to the Family Court, Thiruvananthapuram with instructions to forthwith transmit the records in Annexure-A1 to the Family Court, Ernakulam.

(iv) The Family Court, Ernakulam shall, immediately on receipt of the records in Annexure-A1, post the case along with Annexures A2 and A3.