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CHAPTER g . .
Mainten ce of Wife, Children
and an
0th er Dependants

l. INTRODUCTION
The literal mea ning of the word , . tenanc~' IS .
oneself and one's fam il with the m mam0 thelact of provi~in~
n~ the n~c~ssar~es
of life; or: the fa:~t or stat~ of bein s:ans ~ subsistence m law, It Implies
the provision or mea ns f g provided. However,
his/h.er s . . . herochs·ffport or liv~liho~d provided by a person for
ther term used for
maintenance is alim ony ' . I ren nd@_ged parent~ Ano
L!lw ~f ma~tenan-5~ can b~ classified into fwo part,l on
the basis of the
these are:
persons . or w OJ:n ma-~ntenance js _being provided and
~-. Law of niai nten anc e of th~ spouse - - ~
:z.. Law of mai nten anc e of the children and aged parents
fieq is\duration\
Another hasis _on whi ch ll!aintenance_ or_alimony is da~i
are: =
TherP, ardj wo type s ot ahmonY) on this ground and they
temporarily by
r. Alimony pen den te lite .-It means alimony granted
or separation.
the court during the pen den cy of proceeding for divorce
2. Permanent alimony. -It means
the alimony granted permanently
ation.
after the disposal of the proceeding for divorce or s~~r
a part y to a mar-
Spousal maintenance is the fina.ncial support paid .by
and or ·wife) in1 cir-
riage to their husband ·or wife (or their former husb
ort themselves. On
cumstances where they are unable. to adequately supp
bound by law to
the other- hand, the sup por t which one person, who is
or parents, for
dq so, giv~s to ~no ther m~mber _of_his farniJy, i.e. ch~dre_n
. In law, a father or
their living, js ".maintenance of children and .~are?ts
an offspring
mother is bound to prov ide maintenance for his children, and
is required by law to mai ntai n his father or mot her when2 they can not sup-
0 th
port them selves and he has the ability to SUPP rt em.
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 "
DANT S [CliA.p
2.74 MAIN TENA NCE OF WIFE, CHILD REN & OTHE R DEPEN
,i

A fairly uniform idea th-at prevails in aU perso nal _la~s, i.e. Hindu
3,
l
. Musl im4 Christian5 Parsi6 and . th~- secular laws, l~e the Specia
··.M~r riag; Act, 1954' (SM.A)'~~~ =t~~-.- C~iin i~l Pro~e~ti~e- Code,: ·1973
· (CrPC), is ·that maintenance does 'not mean food, clothing and reside
nce
·
only, it is something more than t 1s. a1ntenance mchides all .thcise
n,
thing s which are necessary to sustain Ji e i.:fb_00 , C ot ing, e ucat1o
me ical expenses, resi ence, etc. - -

1.1 _Applicable laws

al
Main tenan ce is governed .by two types of laws und~r va_rious person
ed
laws codified and customary. F:or instance, the Hindus are govern
and
by-th e Hind u M-arriag~ Act, ·~955 (HMA} and· the Hind u Adoptions
n
Main tenan ce · Act, 1956 (HAMA); the Muslims by the Muslim Wome
pre-
(Prot ectio n of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 (MW PRD Act) and the
vailin g customs; the Parsis by the Parsi Marr iage and Divorce Act, r9 3
6
(PMD A); and the Christians by the Indian Divorce Act, 1869 (IDA)
.
In addit ion to the per:sonal laws, the secul_a r laws, like the CrPC (2 of
1974) _and the SMA, also contain pro~isions with respect to the
right of
main tenan ce.

2. MAINTENANCE OF WIFE

2.1 Pendent.e lite and expenses of proceedings.

•
•
4 , -
-

The mainte11ance _pendente lite is _a maint~nan ce whic h is payab le from

he <lat~ of presentation o t e. et1tion till ~e date_of dismissa o the suit
or assin o e ecree. It is supposed to meet _t e 1 needs of
is
the petiti oner. This phrase includes the amou nt.of in~intena·8nce a party
a
- boun d to pay .as a result of a final decree. made by court . Expen
ses of
ant.
th~ proce~dings are for providing the litigation expenses to the claim

2.1.1 Hindu Law

It is the piOlJS duty of a Hind u husband to maintain his wife. It is a
wife's
of her spouse arises out of
rtght to expe ct mainten~nc.e and this .liability _
their m~r.ital relation and continu~s till the end of the wife's life. Thus, the
ri_ght of a wife to maintena~ce is an incident of the sta~us or e·state of mat-
ri~on y. 9 A husband may or may not possess prop~rty, yet, he is bou~d by
3. See, s. 3(b) HAMA .
. 4~ See, MWPRD Act.
5. See, IDA.
.
6. See, PMDA.
7. See, _Ra;esh Burman v. Mitul Chatterjee, (2009 ) 1 sec 39 s; Manga
t Mal v. Punnt
Devi, (1995) 6 SCC 88. · · ·

9. !;;~:..:·::~
8. See, Ss. 36-38 IDA. ..
I99J
Chhadva v. Vlresh Nagshi Cbbad'!IJ, ~cc ,QnLi~e Bom 5,5: ;.IR
 2
MAI NTE NAN CE OF WIF E 75

wiferAH. d . . . ·c
.. law to ma inta in his •n u male has to maintain oa.t only his wu e
-_ ·-. and chi.ldre n, bu• · -l
I rus_
- _..._a SQ pat ents)
. ·. · .
Section 24 HM A ma k es prov1s1o n for maintenance of wif e. It pro vid es
f ·' ·
.or maindtenance pen den,te li~e and ·exp enses of proceedings in the follow-
1ng wo r s: , · ·
0/4 . . . .
\../. 24. Mamte nance pen dent e 1·1te an expenses of pro cee·. ~dn
d s. - Wh ere 1n
. • . e the wife . or
any pro ce ed1ng ·under th·IS A ct 1t appears to the. cou rt..t hat e1th
h h b d
me sufficient for
Ji e u~ _an ' as the case may be, has no jndep~ndent inco ding it may on
pro cee
~r or . .18 _sup1>9rt and the necessary expenses of -the ' '
th ~_a?pIican.on_of t he.wif e_or t}:ie h~sbanq, ot_d~r the resp ond ent to pay to the
.
thly dur ing the pro cee ding
_ petitioner ~e ex~enses of rbe pcoceeding, and mon
SU;ch sum ~s, having reg ard Jo the petitioner's own
. income and the income of
le: .
the respondent, it<;: -m ay se~m to _the_court to be .reasonab
the expenses of the pro -
· Prov]ded -tha t the app lica tion _for th~ pay men t of
ceeding and suc h · o du.ring the proceeding shall, as far as possible,
be_disp ose d o wit hin sixt da m the of ser ·ce of not ice on the wife
or the hus ban d, as the cas e may be.
es of pro cee din gs can be
An ord er fo .ma inte nan ce ead ent e lite and ex ens
o con ju a righ ts
made in _an roc eed in s und er t_he Acr, viz. restit_ution
vo1 a e ma rria e The
judicial se ara tio div orc e or nu it o vo1 a·n
a plaintiff oi: def end ant
o ~ec t of Secti~n 24 .is _to pro vid e maintenance to
enses inc urr ed, in ord er
who has no me ans to.def end the suit and oth er exp
t9. ens ~r~ justice.10 Th ~ ver y pur pos e of an, ofder
under Sec tion 24 wou ld
e- and oi pro v Iding
be d~feated if .the ma tter of granting interi_m mainte~anc
~.eeding itse lf is d~ferre d
the reqtiisite exp ens es for the co?~uct of the _pro
n for the pay me nt of
tiU the final stag e of the procee~1ng. The directio
ency her e, and the
in~erim alim ony and exp ens es of litigation is one of urg it is ma de deal-
.de upo n the ma tter· as soonhas the plea for
cou r t mu s t de Cl · f 11

. h other matte rs in the troversy t erea ter-.

. wit
1ng . con
. . .. .
Halsbury12 puts it like this : ion , the cou rt
. . -., d 1•vorce nullity of mar riagde· or 1ud1· c1al· sep arat
on. a pet1t1gn 1or d · ntenance. pen 1ng. suit, ,.e. an ord er . requiring
for ' mai
~ay make
etth e~ par ty
a; :1/:arriage
0
to make. to the Other ~u<;h pe_riod.ical_ pa!ments
. t nan ce and for such term, being ? term oeg1nn
1ng not
for his or her m;ln ~te
e f pres enta tion of the peti tion and end ing -wi th the
O
h ·t as the cou rt- thin ks reas ona ble.
date
An app lica -
earl ier than the f SUI , 1 1 r _____~ L __ _
 & OTHER DEPENDANTS
276 MAINTENANCE OF WIFE, CHJLDRE~
th
Section 24 provides for the support to ~e given by e employed spouse.
0
I in .favour of the unemployed sp?us~ dunng_tbe p_enden7m: ;r<>ceedi~
- bef~re the court. Hence, an.applicat1on·.see~ing.rei1:11burs . 0 ?f med1c_.sJ
a
_· expenses incurred by dependent -spou~e IS definitely one which can -be
_aJ!owed in an ·application under this .s~1on. . . -
Jurisai~tion to pass orders under Section ~4 I-f:MA a~ises as soo~ as any
pro~eedings under this section arise .or are inst uted in the court and it
lasts so long as the proceedings are pending. The court ha 1scretionary ~
1

~o · ate rom which m~inte~ance un. er e_ctton 24

should be ranted. he circumstances on which the discretion o t e court .
would d~pend are time-taken to rserv~ the respondent with the petition,
t~e date of filing of the application under Section 24 HMA, the conduct
of parties in the proceedings, avennent made in the application and the
reply th~reto. i~

2.1.1.1 Condjtions
On analysing Section 24, the following points emerge and it becomes clear
that such temporary maintena~ce can be granted by ~he court when
r. ~oD)e _proceeding~ under this Ac be in· _
2. t.p.e spouse claiming maintenance i unem lo ed or has no source of
_independent income;10 and .
3. th~ spouse seeking.mainte nance applies to the court for thd purpose. )
· The. court wo · · · ·· · 1 · • - u oft the ·amount of maintenance aft/3.r looking
into the a lication a~d income of the parties.

2.1.1.2 Important ideas inherent in the section

r. Segion 24 grants two t · es of reliefs o the applicant as under:
(a) ro
claim cost o t e procee in s in regard to which relief is
requested. . · . - - --- - - - - -
(b) Relief r~garding(monthly maintenance)during the period of the
proceedings. ·
2 • ~ill ~h~ final relief of dis~olution of void or voidable marriages, res-

t~tuti~n of.-~on'u. al r· hts or of judicial s~paration or divorce as

~ontained 1 Sections 9 to 13 js granted by the court, it will .make
1nterlocutor , r n ..,..., , • ntenance under Section 24. 17
' •

· ·
Col. Kanu,ar Pal S · h 1 6 SCC OnLme . ,
Ra ..t R . mg , 97 . Del 31: AIR 197 7 Del 76- Chitra Lekha 11•
14. Ar;;';in ~'/t76 sec Online Del AIR 1977 n 'el 176. .
II I: '

. 1996 Born 94; Chit:a

t'd~e;h
Sushi la tire~h ~; Kanwa~ Pal Singh, 1976 sec On Line Del 31: AIR 1977 Del 7~
Vtresh N~gshi_Chhadva, :r995 sec Online Bom 515: Alel
176.
1t , _ _J_• Tl
_av. Ran1zt Rai, 1976 secOn!..ine Del III: AIR 1977 D