BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition by a 27-year-old man, seeking directions to his 24-year-old wife to pay him maintenance, saying he was “incapable” and “jobless”. The court said that although Section 24 of Hindu Marriages Act is gender neutral on granting maintenance, allowing such a direction would amount to promoting idleness as the husband has no impediment or handicap to prevent him from earning.
Hearing the case, Justice M Nagaprasanna, reminded the man, “It is better to wear out than rust out,” and observed that the allegations made by the man in his applications that he was “incapable” and “jobless” for which he was claiming maintenance from his wife was bizarre and misuse of Section 24 of the Act. “Such an application cannot be granted, as the husband cannot afford to incapacitate himself and sustain an application under Section 24 of the Act to claim maintenance from the hands of the wife. This would be an anathema to the spirit of Section 24 of the Act."
"It is necessary for any husband to earn by legitimate means and maintain the wife and the children,” the judge observed. The husband questioned the order of the family court, which rejected his plea seeking direction for maintenance from his wife and costs to meet the litigation expenses for the matrimonial dispute filed by her. The family court dismissed the plea with cost in October 2022.
It had noticed the wife’s affidavit mentioning the husband as working as a senior executive earning Rs 50,000 per month, besides getting Rs 75,000 per month from properties rented out. The family court had allowed the wife’s application by awarding interim maintenance of Rs 10,000 and litigation expenses of Rs 25,000 while rejecting the husband’s claim.
The high court said that merely because the husband lost his job after the onset Covid, it cannot be held that he is incapable of earning. “It can be irrefutably concluded that the husband by his conduct has decided to lead a leisurely life by seeking maintenance from the hands of the wife,” the court said.