NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has clarified that personal loans, EMIs, or other voluntary financial obligations cannot be used as an excuse by an earning spouse to avoid paying maintenance to a dependent spouse or child.
A division bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Renu Bhatnagar held that deductions such as house rent, power bills, life insurance premiums, and EMIs for personal borrowings do not count as legitimate reductions in income when calculating maintenance payments.
“These are considered to be voluntary financial obligations undertaken by the earning spouse, which cannot override the primary obligation to maintain a dependent spouse or child,” the court said in its order dated May 26.
The high court was hearing an appeal filed by a man challenging a family court’s decision that directed him to pay Rs 15,000 per month for the maintenance of his wife and child. The wife had approached the family court under Section 24 of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, seeking interim financial aid.
The husband argued that the court had not taken into account his financial burdens, including EMI payments for a property loan and premiums for a mediclaim policy that also covered his wife and child.
However, the high court dismissed this argument, stressing that maintenance must be determined based on the actual income available to the earning spouse, without considering such voluntary deductions.
“….a person cannot wriggle out of their statutory liability to maintain spouse and dependents by artificially reducing their disposable income through personal borrowings or long-term financial commitments undertaken unilaterally,” the court observed.
It added that the correct approach is to assess “free income”, which reflects a person’s real earning and standard of living, rather than the net income left after self-imposed financial commitments.
The court also took note of the wife’s medical condition and her responsibility for raising the couple’s minor child. These factors, the bench said, limited her ability to take up full-time employment.