Husband must earn to give maintenance to woman, kids: SC

The Supreme Court has observed that an able-bodied husband is obliged to earn by legitimate means and maintain his wife and the minor child.

The court passed the order in favour of the wife who was fighting a legal battle for maintenance for around a decade after she left her matrimonial home in 2010.

The top court said provision for maintenance under CrPC Sec 125 is a measure of social justice that was specially enacted to protect women and children and refused to accept the plea of a husband who submitted he had no source of income as his party business has now been closed, according to LiveLaw report.

“The respondent (husband) being an able bodied, he is obliged to earn by legitimate means and maintain his wife and the minochild. Having regard to the evidence of the appellant-wife before the family court, and having regard to the other evidence on record, the court has no hesitation in holding that though the respondent had sufficient source of income and was able-bodied, had failed and neglected to maintain the appellant,” said a bench of Justices Dinesh Maheshwari and Bela M Trivedi.

The apex court observed that it is a sacrosanct duty of a husband to provide financial support to his wife, minor children and couldn’t avoid his obligation.

“The family court had disregarded the basic canon of law that it is the sacrosanct duty of the husband to provide financial support to the wife and to the minor children. The husband is required to earn money even by physical labour, if he is an able-bodied, and could not avoid his obligation, except on the legally permissible grounds mentioned in the statute,” it said.

The bench disapproved the Punjab and Haryana high court passing order in a very casual manner by upholding “such an erroneous and perverse order of family court”, reported LiveLaw.

The court therefore granted maintenance allowance of Rs.10,000/- per month to the appellant-wife, over and above the maintenance allowance of Rs. 6,00 – granted by the Family Court to the minor-son.

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