A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed a miscellaneous application filed by an aggrieved woman seeking clarification and modification of the court's May 6, 2024 judgment as misconceived.

 

The top court had then used its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to dissolve the 33-year-old marriage of the woman and her husband on the grounds of irretrievable breakdown, as efforts to make an amicable settlement had not borne any fruit.

 

The court had then noted that both parties had been living separately for 22 years, and the dispute fell within the parameters laid down by the Constitution bench in 'Shilpa Sailesh Vs Varun Sreenivasan' (2023).

 

The bench had then thought it fit and proper that the appellant/husband paid an amount of Rs 50 lakh to the respondent/wife as permanent alimony. The court had allowed the appeal filed by the husband, giving a schedule of payments to be made between May 15, 2024, and September 15, 2024.

 

The counsel for the parties admitted that the amount of Rs 50 Lakh had been paid by the appellant to the respondent.

 

However, the woman filed the plea seeking clarification and modification of the May 6, 2024 judgment to include the arrears in maintenance case, pending before Family Court, Dwarka, as part of permanent alimony decided by the apex court in its judgment and to close the case in as much all differences between the parties were fully and finally settled.

 

Rejecting her plea, the bench, in its order, said, "The application is misconceived. Once the lis between the parties was finally settled and permanent alimony of a lump sum amount was awarded, nothing further survives for consideration. All pending matters inter se parties would stand closed."

 

The bench clarified that the top court in its judgment, had finally settled the pending lis between the parties, including the issue of maintenance, in its entirety. The court dismissed the miscellaneous application as being devoid of merit.

 

"This court by its judgment has conclusively adjudicated all disputes between the parties, including the issue of maintenance. The permanent alimony of Rs 50 Lakh only granted to the respondent- applicant constitutes the full and final settlement of all claims, including any maintenance obligations. Consequently, the maintenance case pending before the Family Court, Dwarka, stands closed, and any arrears arising from orders passed therein shall not be included in the permanent alimony granted by this court," the bench said.

 

The bench further clarified that the final order of maintenance passed by the court should be the full and final adjudication of any maintenance proceedings between the parties, leaving no scope for further claims in this regard.