Permanent alimony as counter claim under sec 23 (a) of hindu marriage act

Permanent alimony can be claimed under section 25 of HMA and not under the referred section. 

The section you have mentioned reads thus

Under section 23(2), before proceeding to grant any relief under this Act, it is the duty of the court to make every endeavour to bring about reconciliation, in every case where it is possible to do so "consistently with the nature and circumstances of the case." From the words which we have quoted, it would appear that where relief is applied for on the ground of conduct not dependent on fault but on some other factor which is constituted by a disease or similar circumstance, an attempt at reconciliation would not be obligatory. We think that it would be appropriate to make this explicit, and, with this object, we would like to exclude, from the mandatory provision in section 23(2), cases where judicial separation or divorce is applied for on the grounds mentioned in section 13(1), clauses (ii) to (vii) of the Act. We recommend accordingly.

Very well analysed, opined and advised by learned expert Mr. T Kalaiselvan, which I fully agree.

Provisions of Section 25 of HMA, 1955 shall apply in the instant case, which reads as:

25. Section 25(1).- Section 25(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act reads thus:

"25. (1) Any court exercising jurisdiction under this Act may, at the time of passing any decree or at any time subsequent thereto, on application made to it for the purpose by either the wife or the husband, as the case may be, order that the respondent shall, while the applicant remains unmarried, pay to the applicant for her or his maintenance and support such gross sum or such monthly or periodical sum for a term not exceeding the life of the applicant as having regard to the respondent's own income and other property, if any, the income and other property of the applicant and the conduct of the parties, it may seem to the court to be just, and any such payment may be secured, if necessary, by a charge on the immovable property of the respondent."

This sub-section raises several questions.

In the first place, the condition that the applicant must "remain unmarried" i

it is not elligible in the case of a decree of judicial separation

or

a decree of restitution, because the parties to such a decree remain "married".

The Special Marriage Act has a provision for maintenance u/s Section 37(1), S.M.A but it does not contain the above condition.

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