Punjab & Haryana HC upholds grant of maintenance to wife u/S 125 CrPC even after one-time alimony

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently upheld the monthly maintenance granted under Section 125 of the CrPC by the Sessions Court to a woman who had already received a lump sum payment by way of alimony from her husband.

Court noted that the woman, who got separated from her husband in 1993, had got retired in 2018, and before that she was only earning Rs. 17,000 per month.

Court, therefore, opined that since it was she who was burdened with the expenses of her two children – both being college students at the time of filing the maintenance plea, it was not possible for her to provide for expenses including accommodation, electricity, water, and conveyance on her own.

Accordingly, while stressing that a meager amount of Rs. 3 lacs which was given by her husband under a written compromise was not enough for her survival, the court found it justified that she filed the petition under Section 125 CrPC seeking monthly maintenance.

The couple in question got married in 1983, however, after a matrimonial dispute, they started living separately in 1993. The husband then filed a divorce petition against his wife, which was dismissed by the Family as well as the High Court.

Meanwhile, the matter was settled by way of a written compromise, and the husband deposited Rs.3 lac in favour of his wife and the two children as a full and final alimony settlement regarding their past, present, and future claims of maintenance along with Rs.1500 per month as rent.

However, in 2007, the woman filed a plea under Section 125 for maintenance, which was, eventually in 2016, ruled in her favour by the court of Additional Sessions Judge.

Aggrieved by this decision, the husband moved the high court contending that once the matter was settled between the parties, his wife could not agitate the same matter by filing the petition under Section 125 CrPC.

However, the high court noted that the wife along with her two children survived on the basis of lump sum alimony given to her by her husband as well as by working as a teacher in a school. Ultimately in order to maintain herself and her daughter and to lead a respectable life, she was compelled to file a petition under Section 125 CrPC claiming maintenance from her husband, it observed.

Therefore the petition filed by her is fully justified, the court concluded.

Case Title: Sunil Sachdeva v Rashmi and Another