111 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA CHANDIGARH Date of Decision: 27.10.2025 KANCHAN SHARMA AND ANOTHER …Petitioners V/S NAVDEEP SHARMA …Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MS. JUSTICE SHALINI SINGH NAGPAL Present: Mr. Vivek Singla, Advocate for the petitioners.

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SHALINI SINGH NAGPAL J. (Oral)

1. Order dated 25.08.2025 of learned Principal Judge, Family Court, Barnala, has been challenged in this revision petition.

2. Learned counsel for the petitioners submits that the impugned order was passed in violation of law laid down by Hon’ble Supreme Court in Rajnesh Vs. Neha and Another, 2021(2) SCC 324, inasmuch as the interim maintenance allowance was fixed without requiring the parties to place on record affidavits of assets and liabilities and was liable to be set aside on this ground alone.

3. In Aditi @ Mithi Vs. Jitesh Sharma 2023 SCC Online SC

1451, Hon’ble Supreme Court observed as under:

“8. The manner in which maintenance payable under Section 24 of the Hindu Mariage Act, 1955 or Section 125 Cr. P.C. is to be assessed, was considered by this Court in its celebrated judgment in Rajnesh v. Neha, (2021) 2 SCC 324. Detailed guidelines were issued. It was noticed that the terms of maintenance are decided on the basis of pleadings of parties and on the basis of some amount of guess work. It is often seen that both the parties submit scanty material and do not disclose correct details. The tendency of the wife is to exaggerate her needs, whereas the husband tends to conceal his actual income. Keeping that in view, this Court laid down the procedure to streamline grant of maintenance. The judgments of various courts were referred to and response from various State Legal Services Authorities was sought. This Court even requested the National Legal Services Authority to submit a report on the suggestions received from the State Legal Services Authorities for framing guidelines on the affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities to be filed by the parties. Guidelines were issued in exercise of powers under Article 136 read with Article 142 of the Constitution of India, prescribing a uniform format of Affidavit of Disclosure of Assets and Liabilities to be filed in maintenance proceedings. The judgment was delivered on 04.11.2020. The affidavit was to be submitted in all maintenance proceedings including pending proceedings. The directions given are extracted as under:

“72. Keeping in mind the need for a uniform format of Affidavit of Disclosure of Assets and Liabilities to be filed in maintenance proceedings, this Court considers it necessary to frame guidelines in exercise of our powers under Article 136 read with Article 142 of the Constitution of India:

72.1. (a) The Affidavit of Disclosure of Assets and Liabilities annexed at Enclosures I, II and III of this judgment, as may be applicable, shall be filed by the parties in all maintenance proceedings, including pending proceedings before the Family Court/District Court/Magistrate's Court concerned, as the case may be, throughout the country;

72.2. (b) The applicant making the claim for maintenance will be required to file a concise application accompanied with the Affidavit of Disclosure of Assets;

72.3. (c) The respondent must submit the reply along with the Affidavit of Disclosure within a maximum period of four weeks. The courts may not grant more than two opportunities for submission of the Affidavit of Disclosure of Assets and Liabilities to the respondent. If the respondent delays in filing the reply with the affidavit, and seeks more than two adjournments for this purpose, the court may consider exercising the power to strike off the defence of the respondent, if the conduct is found to be wilful and contumacious in delaying the proceedings [Kaushalya v. Mukesh Jain, (2020) 17 SCC 822]. On the failure to file the affidavit within the prescribed time, the Family Court may proceed to decide the application for maintenance on the basis of the affidavit filed by the applicant and