Interim Maintenance
Grant of interim maintenance to child—Revision—Submission that trial court has grossly erred in passing the impugned order without there being any affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities filed by the respondent as per law laid down by the Apex Court in Rajnesh vs Neha, 2021 (2) SCC 324 and in Aditi alias Mithi vs Jitesh Sharma, 2023 SCC Online 1451—Impugned order was an ex-parte order against the petitioner—Absence of the affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities of the petitioner cannot be the ground to impute any illegality to the impugned order—However, it transpires that no affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities was filed by the respondent in terms of the judgment of the Apex Court before the impugned order was passed by the Trial Court—Mandate of law laid down by the Apex Court in the case of 2023 SCC Online 1451 makes it clear that no order of maintenance, either interim or final, can be passed by a Court without there being any affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities on record—Nothing to show that requirement of filing of such an affidavit by the respondent was dispensed with by the Trial Court before the impugned order was passed—Impugned order set aside and matter remanded back to the trial court for a fresh consideration after compliance of the legal requirements mandated by the decisions of the Apex Court.
[Paras 4 to 6]
Decision : Petition allowed