NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has dismissed an appeal by a 70-year-old retired school teacher seeking interim maintenance from her estranged husband, noting that she possesses sufficient means to support herself.
A Bench of Justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar upheld a February 8, 2023, order of the Family Court, which had rejected the woman's plea for Rs 60, 000 per month as interim maintenance and Rs 1 lakh litigation expenses under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955.
The Justice Kshetarpal-led Bench observed that "the income of the appellant (wife) is sufficient to maintain herself, and as such, the learned Family Court has rightly dismissed the application filed by her under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act."
It opined that interim maintenance is meant to provide sustenance to a spouse genuinely unable to maintain themselves during matrimonial litigation, not as "an automatic entitlement".
The appellant, Yashwani Verma, married the respondent, Virender Verma, in 1978 but has been living separately from him since 1987.
Although the parties filed for divorce by mutual consent in 2003, the appellant-wife later withdrew her consent.
In 2021, she filed a fresh petition before the Family Court, alleging that her husband had contracted a second marriage during the subsistence of their marriage, and sought a declaration that the subsequent marriage was null and void ab initio.
Seeking interim maintenance, the appellant contended that she survives on a pension of around Rs 2, 000 a month and has no substantial income.