Now Reading: Delhi HC cuts wife maintenance despite husband earning Rs 63 lakh
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Delhi HC cuts wife maintenance despite husband earning Rs 63 lakh
The Delhi High Court has reduced interim maintenance for a wife from Rs 30,000 to Rs 25,000 per month, even though the husband earns over Rs 63 lakh annually. Justice Saurabh Banerjee…
The Story in Brief
The Delhi High Court has reduced interim maintenance for a wife from Rs 30,000 to Rs 25,000 per month, even though the husband earns over Rs 63 lakh annually. Justice Saurabh Banerjee ruled that the Family Court had overlooked the wife's independent income, her qualifications, and her exclusive access to a three-bedroom property owned by the husband.
The couple married in 1995 and have two children, both living with the father. The elder daughter is pursuing an expensive MBBS course, and the father bears all educational expenses. The wife, who holds an MBA in Finance, earns Rs 10,450 from rental income and Rs 4,400 from fixed-deposit interest. The court applied the Supreme Court's Rajnesh vs Neha principles, balancing both parties' needs and liabilities.
The Indian Opinion
The narrative that a woman automatically deserves maximum maintenance simply because the husband earns well is too simplistic. The court rightly asked: if the wife lives rent-free in a three-bedroom house, earns her own income, and the husband alone funds both children including an MBBS fee, should the law ignore these facts? Yet the opposite narrative, that men are always victims, also misses how the husband's Rs 63 lakh income dwarfs her Rs 15,000 monthly earnings. The real test is whether the final alimony hearing will honestly weigh both parties' actual monthly expenses, not just their salaries.
Source: livemint.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
