Punjab and Haryana High Court: In a revision petition filed against the enhanced amount of alimony H.S. Madaan, J., upheld Family Court’s decision that,
If salary of the husband increases the wife would be entitled to increased maintenance as well.
The Petitioner, one Varun Jagotta had filed the instant revision petition against his wife Diksha Kapur, feeling aggrieved by the order of the Family Court whereby the Court had granted interim maintenance at Rs 20,000 per month till September, 2019 and thereafter at Rs 28,000 per month. The petitioner was basically aggrieved by the portion of the impugned order granting maintenance at Rs 28,000 w.e.f. October, 2019 onwards.
Taking note of the fact that there had been increase in the salary of the respondent from Rs 95,000 per month to Rs 1,14,000 per month in September, 2019 and there had been increase in rent being paid by the petitioner at the rate of Rs.1,500 per month, the Family Court opined that if the petitioner is awarded a sum of Rs 20,000/- per month by way of interim maintenance from the date of filing the application (on 03.10.2018) till September, 2019 and henceforth, at the rate of Rs 28,000/- per month, it would suffice the purpose and ends of justice would be met.
The petitioner contended that as per pay slip of the petitioner for the month of December, 2019, his net carry home salary after all the deductions came out to Rs 92,175, therefore, grant of maintenance at Rs 28,000 per month was not justified.
Noticing that salary of the petitioner had increased from Rs 95,000 per month to Rs 1,14,000 per month, the Bench held that,
“Increase in maintenance by Rs.8,000 when there was increase in salary of revision petitioner by 19,000, was justified.”
Hence, it was held that the impugned order did not suffer from any illegality or infirmity and was not perverse or passed in an arbitrary manner. The instant petition was dismissed. [Varun Jagotta v. Diksha Kapur, CRR(F)-28 of 2021, decided on 05-02-2021]
Kamini Sharma, Editorial Assistant has put this story together.