Hello, I need your opinion on an HMA 24 matter. Details below:
- Wife filed for an Interim Maintenance (IM) for herself as well as minor child, in year 2013.
- The Interim order was done last week (May 2017), after over 4 years !!!
- Wife’s demand for IM for herself was rejected completely; however, the child was awarded Rs. 5,000/= IM from the date of application.
- The Judge noted that both – husband and wife had independent income (an erroneous conclusion wrt the husband, btw).
- The fact is, the father had to leave his service (Take Home Salary at the time = ~17,000/= pm) in mid-2015 due to his mother’s prolonged illness and her being admitted to a hospital for moths in another town (evidence in this regard was submitted as well).
- His mother passed away a few months later after which he started studies in the local University as a Full-Time student (in year 2016; fee receipt also submitted). He finished the First Year already. In other words, the job the husband left in 2015 was his last, after which he had to stay with his mother at the hospital and he has been a Full Time student since 2016.
- The husband has all along been providing all the information (employment, salary, family situation, etc.) along with the evidence whereas the wife had been hiding everything (exposed by the husband himself along with evidence and relevant SC/HC citations).
- Now, while he’s willing to pay some amount for his child, he feels that this Rs. 5,000/= pm IM order is way too harsh, considering his present situation and the fact that he had to leave the last job way back in 2015. That 2015 job lasted only for less than 6 months, and it seems the judge has considered that as the basis for awarding IM in May 2017, the 4 year arrears for which would be over Rs. 2,40,000/=. Moreover, the wife was earning more than he did (proven and recorded), a fact seemingly not taken into much consideration in this order. The Judge recorded his past (2015) salary between Rs. 2,50,000 – 3,00,000 per year (for a job that lasted less than 6 months), and has absolutely failed to consider the fact that he has been a bona fide student for more than a year.
Question : Should the husband challenge this in High Court ? Would it stand any chance ? Should it be entered as a Revision petition under Art. 227 of the Constitution ?
Or, should/can he go for a Review instead in the same Court on the basis that the fact that his last job ended way back in 2015 and that he has been a student for over a year has not been taken into consideration?
Thank you so much.
