Maintenance
Claim for—Stridhan, inherited property, or gifts received by a woman from her parents or relatives cannot be construed as a source of income so as to defeat her claim for maintenance—Claim for maintenance must be assessed with reference to her present earning capacity and ability to sustain herself in the standard of living she was accustomed to during her marriage, and not on the financial status of her natal family.
[Para 11]
Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
Section 23—Award of rupees fifty thousand per month as interim maintenance to the wife—Revision—Wife’s educational qualification or notional earning potential cannot, by itself, constitute a valid ground to deny her interim maintenance—Plea of petitioner-husband that the respondent-wife is financially superior or self-sufficient finds no support from credible material—Trial court rightly recorded that the wife is presently unemployed and financially dependent—Having regard to totality of circumstances, the income and social status of parties, no infirmity or illegally found in order passed by the trial court as affirmed by the Sessions Court—Quantum of rupees fifty thousand per month awarded as interim maintenance is reasonable, just, and commensurate with the needs of respondent-wife and the financial capacity of the petitioner—Petition dismissed.
[Paras 12 to 17]