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"In the case, it would not be appropriate for the parties to wait unnecessarily for a further period. Any further period would only add to their agony," the court said
The Karnataka High Court has said that making a couple to wait unnecessarily, despite their conscious decision to part ways, would only add to their agony as the cooling off period of one year mentioned under the Special Marriage Act for a mutual consent divorce is not mandatory but rather directory in nature.
"The very object of providing cooling period for filing of the petition and further period of six months from the date of filing the petition is to see that the parties to the proceeding can change their mind and resolve their differences, if after a period of six months, the parties decide to go ahead with divorce, make a motion before the jurisdictional court so that it can consider the case on its merits," a division bench of Justices G Narendar and Vijaykumar A Patil said.
The court allowed a plea for waiving off the statutory period under Section 28 of the Special Marriage Act for a couple who sought to divorce each other within four months of their marriage, after noting they decided to part ways by taking a conscious decision while being aware of its consequences.
"The possibilities of reconciliation between the appellants are bleak. Hence, it would be appropriate to exercise discretion for waiving off the cooling period by permitting the appellants to move the petition for dissolution of marriage by mutual consent," the bench added.
Referring to pleadings, the court noted both the appellants are Engineering Graduates and working in private companies at Bengaluru who had realized that their personality differences, strong likes and dislikes.
Court noted that despite making best efforts to reconcile, the couple decided to part away from the institution of marriage without making any allegation or claims against each other after the parties as well as the family members have tried their best to bring reunion between.
"This court is of the considered view that the possibilities of reconciliation between the appellants are bleak. Hence, it would be appropriate to exercise discretion for waiving off the cooling period by permitting the appellants to move the petition for dissolution of marriage by mutual consent," court further said.
The bench also cited SC judgements in the case of 'Amardeep Singh vs Harveen Kaur' (2017) and 'Amit Kumar v. Suman Beniwal' (2021) to point out waiting period mentioned in the statute is not mandatory but it is directory in nature.
"However, the courts while exercising the discretion is required to look into the facts and circumstances of each case as to whether the parties to the proceedings are likely to reunite and resume the cohabitation or in the alternate proceed to consider the case on its merits," it said while concluding.
Case Title: MR. SHARATH MAMANI and Anr vs. NIL
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