SOURCE - https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Court-tells-govt-official-to-raise-allowance-to-daughter/articleshow/8575213.cms
Court tells govt official to raise allowance to daughter
NEW DELHI:
A trial court has ordered a defence ministry official to raise the monthly maintenance to his daughter to Rs 2,000 and continue giving her the grant till her marriage, in addition to the Rs 10,000 that he has been paying his wife since 2009.
While ordering defence ministry official Kishan Lal Bhalla to raise his daughter's maintenance, Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Sanjay Sharma also rebuked him for being unaware of his children's condition. "It cannot be expected from a father that he is unaware of the educational and marital status of his children unless he is voluntarily neglecting them," the judge said.
A magisterial court, earlier in 2009, had ordered Bhalla to pay Rs 10,000 as monthly maintenance to his estranged wife, besides a sum of Rs 1,200 to his school-going daughter. The court ordered Bhalla to enhance his daughter's pocket money on an appeal by his wife that their daughter was now a college-going girl and needed more money to take care of her growing needs.
"In my view, the maintenance granted to the daughter at the rate of Rs 1,200 per month appears to be on the lower side considering that she is now a grown-up girl and is studying in BA (Final Year) with growing needs. Hence, the maintenance awarded to her at the rate of Rs 1,200 per month is enhanced to Rs 2,000 per month," the court said.
In her appeal to the sessions court for enhanced maintenance to her daughter, the mother also pointed out that the magisterial court had ordered payment of maintenance to her daughter only till she attains majority while the law provides for maintenance till marriage. On the mother's appeal, the sessions court also stipulated that the father will continue paying maintenance to his daughter till her marriage.
