Maintenance must match husband’s lifestyle: hc

MUMBAI: A woman is entitled to maintenance consistent with the lifestyle of her husband, the Bombay high court ruled recently while granting an over threefold increase in maintenance to a divorced woman. The division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Gautam Patel, while enhancing the woman’s monthly maintenance from Rs7,000 per month, granted by a family court, to Rs25,000, noted that her husband enjoyed a good lifestyle, and had suppressed the true state of his financial affairs from the family court. The Hindu woman and the Christian man had tied the knot in April 1995. Eight years later the husband approached the Bandra family court seeking restitution of conjugal rights and a declaration that he was the sole owner of their flat in Andheri. The woman filed a separate plea seeking interim maintenance of Rs25,000 per month and challenging the husband’s claim regarding the ownership of the flat. While the litigation was pending, the couple opted for divorce with mutual consent, but left the ownership of the flat and the maintenance to be decided by the family court. In June 2006, the court held that the husband was the sole owner of the flat and granted the woman maintenance of Rs7,000 per month, which she challenged in the high court. In its ruling, the bench noted that the husband held multiple credit cards with large debits on them, had an unusual number of bank accounts, and all those accounts held substantial balance at the relevant time. Besides, he had also subscribed to various services such as holiday time shares, which cannot be defined as essential expenses. “The only inference that can be drawn is that the respondent (husband) has suppressed evidence and information of his true income from the family court… there is nothing to show that these assets have in any way decreased or diminished” the bench concluded and ordered the husband to pay enhanced maintenance. It also took into account the increased costs of living while deciding the amount.