The Allahabad High Court has dismissed the revision petition of a woman who claimed maintenance from her stepson when the Court had already asked her real son to pay such maintenance. The High Court held that the inability of a person claiming maintenance to maintain himself/herself comes to an end after the order of the Court to pay maintenance is passed and the person in whose favour the maintenance order is passed cannot claim another maintenance from another person.

The revisionist mother approached the High Court assailing the validity of the impugned judgment of the Family Court (Trial Court) passed in a case under section 125 of the Cr.P.C., wherein the Trial Court, while allowing the application under section 125, directed her real son to pay Rs 8,000 per month as maintenance.

The Single Bench of Justice Lakshmi Kant Shukla held, “Even a person having insufficient means to maintain himself may have right to file application for maintenance against relevant persons but in furtherance of such proceeding of maintenance if the Court allows the same fastening a person liable to maintain the person claiming maintenance then by virtue of order of Court. The inability of person claiming maintenance to maintain himself/herself become to an end after order of Court to pay maintenance the person in whose favour the maintenance order is passed cannot claim another maintenance to another person. Similarly it is right of the claimant that if there two or more persons are under obligation to maintain the applicant from whom and in which ratio the maintenance amount be paid. It is Court to decide that from whom and to what extent maintenance be made payable.”

Advocate Abhishe Pandey represented the Revisionist while Advocate Chakra Dhaar Mishra represented the Opposite Party.

Arguments

It was the case of the revisionist that third opposite party was the real son of the revisionist while the second opposite party was her step son.The revisionist claimed that the impugned order was liable to be modified by fastening the same liability upon the second Opposite Party as had been imposed upon the third Opposite Party.

The second opposite party claimed that in the presence of a real son having sufficient means to maintain his mother, her stepson cannot be held liable for the same.

Reasoning

The Bench, at the outset, explained that while considering the maintenance to parents, the Court has to see the relation of parent and children between the parties and further whether the party seeking maintenance is unable to maintain his/her child or parent, as the case may be. “The Court must also determine whether the person from whom maintenance is claimed has sufficient means to provide such maintenance”, it added.

On a perusal of the facts of the case, the Bench noted that the revisionist is the real mother of the third opposite party and the stepmother of the second opposite party. The Bench took note of the possibility that at the time of filing the application under Section 125 Cr.P.C., the revisionist was unable to maintain herself, but after the order of the Trial Court, the amount for her maintenance was earned, and the real son had not challenged such order, which meant that he had accepted the order of the Trial Court in the aforesaid circumstances.

Thus, holding that the criminal revision was filed only with the intention to harass the stepson without any substantive legal basis, the Bench dismissed the same.

Cause Title: A v. State Of U.P. And 2 Others (Neutral Citation: 2026:AHC:142142)

Appearance

Revisionist: Advocates Abhishe Pandey, Praveen Singh

Opposite Party: Advocate Chakra Dhaar Mishra, Government Advocate

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Allahabad High CourtJustice Lakshmi Kant Shukla

Tulip Kanth

Assistant Editor

Tulip Kanth is an Assistant Editor at Verdictum having over 5 years of experience in the field of legal journalism and editing. She extensively covers judgments of the Supreme Court, High Courts as well as Tribunals. She has previously worked with a legal publishing website where she oversaw the work of other editors and has also created updates on notifications of different Government Ministries. She holds an English Honours Degree from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University and has completed her LLB course with specialisation in Corporate Law from Amity University.