'Buy flat or pay 30L to spouse'
MUMBAI:
Buy a one BHK flat in Pune's Erandwana area for his estranged wife or pay around Rs 30 lakh--- that is the Bombay high court's choice for a hotelier who refused to let his spouse return to her matrimonial home. Refusing to buy the hotelier's plea that he was in financial straits, a division bench has directed 41-year-old Girish Gokhale to pay his wife Smita (39) another Rs 10 lakh plus 12% interest as lump sum maintenance.
The judges said that the "husband has failed and neglected to maintain his wife. He is obliged to provide suitable accommodation to his wife, having deserted her without her consent or against her wish."
Gokhale used to own a hotel in Pune and a transport company while his family runs a hotel in Mahabaleshwar.
The HC dismissed Gokhale's plea for a divorce saying despite court orders he had refused to take back his wife. "The husband has disentitled himself for a decree of divorce, having taken advantage of his own wrong by obstructing the wife from entering her matrimonial house," the judges said.
Gokhale married Smita in 1993, but within five years their relations soured. He left his wife at her parent's house in 1998 and refused to allow her to come back to her matrimonial home. Smita filed a petition in the family court and in 2000 the court ordered for restitution of conjugal rights. Gokhale's petition for divorce was dismissed and he approached the HC.
The court said Gokhale's finances were good enoughfor him to pay maintenance.
(Names of the couple changed to protect their identity)
