SUPREME COURT'S VIEW ON 6 MONTHS WAITING PERIOD
A question which has often arisen for consideration before theSupreme Court is whether the Supreme Court can, in exercise of its inherent power under Article 142 of theConstitution of India, waive the six-month period as mandated by Section 13B (2). This question has consistently been answered, either impliedly or expressly, in the affirmative, to the relief of many who are eager for an immediate divorce. In numerous cases, mostly arising out of a transfer petition (filed by the wife or husband for transfer of cases from one state to another), theSupreme Court has often successfully persuaded parties to settle their matrimonial disputes and as per the terms of settlement, the parties move an application before the Supreme Court for divorce by mutual consent. The Supreme Court has thereafter immediately allowed such applications, granting the parties divorce in exercise of its power under Article 142 and hence impliedly waiving the six-month period between the first and the second motion.
In 2002, the Supreme Court in Anjana Kishore v. Puneet Kishore,(2002) 10 SCC 194, expressly dealt with this question of waiver and then permitted the family court to consider dispensing with the six-month waiting period. In 2009, the Court once again (inAnil Kumar Jain v. Maya Jain, (2009) 10 SCC 415) took note of a number of cases and finally held that in exercise of its extraordinary powers under Article 142, it can grant relief to the parties without even waiting for the statutory period of six months. In Anil Kumar Jain however, the Court also cautioned that it is only the Supreme Court that can grant such a waiver and neither the civil courts nor even the High Courts can pass orders before the period prescribed in Section 13B (2) has expired.
The consistent view taken by the Supreme Court has however recently been disturbed by two judgments of the Court, both byJustice B.S. Chauhan, who has raised some serious doubts regarding the validity of such waiver (See for instance, Manish Goel v. Rohini Goel, AIR 2010 SC 1099). After examining the scope of Section 13B, Justice Chauhan has held that the statutory period of six months for filing the second petition under Section 13B (2)has been prescribed for providing an opportunity to parties to reconcile and withdraw their petition for dissolution of marriage and that under Article 142, the Court cannot altogether ignore the substantive provisions of the statute and pass orders concerning an issue which can be settled only through a mechanism prescribed in a statute. After having referred to various judgments,Justice Chauhan held that the power under Article 142 is not to be exercised in a case where there is no basis in law that can form an edifice for building up a structure.
While it is true that the Court ‘generally’ does not pass an order either in contravention of or ignoring the statutory provisions, theSupreme Court has consistently held that constitutional powers cannot in any way, be controlled by any statutory provisions. It is a settled principle that the inherent power of the Court underArticle 142 is extremely wide and such powers are undefined and uncatalogued so that it remains elastic enough to be moulded to suit a given situation and if the situation so warrants, then there is no reason why the Court should not exercise its power to waive the six-month period. Moreover, an examination of all the cases in which the Supreme Court has waived the six-month period will go to show that such a power has mostly been exercised in transfer petitions where the parties have reached a mutual settlement during the pendency of the cases. Therefore, the inconsistent stand taken by Justice Chauhan, and that too, without making any exceptions, may not have been necessary as the six-month wait may be unnecessary in some circumstances.
Recognising the fact that the judgments of Justice Chauhan may cause some confusion, the Supreme Court recently in Neeti Malviyav. Rakesh Malviya, (2010) 6 SCC 413, referred the question of waiver to a larger bench. However, parties before the Supreme Court who by virtue of a settlement are seeking an immediate divorce need not worry too much as the other benches of theSupreme Court, in spite of the judgments of Justice Chauhan and in spite of the pending reference to the larger bench, have continued to exercise their powers under Article 142 to grant divorce in view of the settlement, thereby waiving the six-month period under Section 13B (1) by implication.