Tripura High Court: A Division Bench of Sanjay Karol, CJ and Arindam Lodh, J. dismissed an appeal filed under Section 19(1) of the Family Courts Act, 1984 against the order of the family Judge whereby the husband was directed to pay pendente lite maintenance of Rs 8000 per month to her wife.
Arijit Bhowmik, Advocate representing the appellant-husband submitted that though the appellant was an employee of ONGC having a salary of Rs 39, 649, however, he received only Rs 19,338 after various deductions. It was prayed that the maintenance allowance may be reduced. per contra, H.K. Bhowmik, Advocate appearing for the respondent-wife submitted that Rs 8,000 per month were minimum to lead a dignified life, which is one of the essential features of Article 21 of the Constitution.
On perusing the record, the High Court found that the wife was forced to stay at her parents’ house. it was noted that there were many bald allegations levelled against her such as she was not interested in having sex with the appellant-husband and that she threatened him to commit suicide. In the Court’s opinion, the allegations were not substantiated by cogent evidence. It was said: “these are the normal wear and tear of marital life and for this, the wife should not be forced to be separated from the appellant-husband. The wife is entitled to lead a life at part the standard of the husband.”
Having considered all the aspects, the court was not inclined to interfere with the order passed by the family Judge. Resultantly, the appeal was dismissed. [Debasish Chakraborty v. Soma Bhattacharjee, 2019 SCC OnLine Tri 159, decided on 29-05-2019]
