The Delhi High Court has held that a man cannot willfully continue to disobey the order passed by the Family Court and refuse to pay maintenance to the wife and the child on the ground that he is trying to settle the matter.

The High Court was considering an appeal filed by the Appellant husband under Section 19 of the Contempt of Courts Act assailing the impugned orders passed by the Single Judge in a Contempt Case.

The Bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Vikas Mahajan held, “However, in the meantime, the Appellant cannot wilfully continue to disobey the order passed by the Family Court and refuse to pay maintenance to the wife and the child.”

Advocate Manish Kinha represented the Appellant while Advocate Pritish Sabharwal represented the Respondent.

Factual Background

The marriage was solemnised between the Appellant and the first Respondent in 2004, and a male child was born from the wedlock. Disputes had arisen between the parties, and sometime in November, 2021, the first Respondent had filed a petition for maintenance under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973. The Family Court had passed the order wherein the Court directed that a sum of Rs 25,000 per month would be paid to the Respondent wife and Rs 25,000 per month would be paid to the minor child, from the date of filing of the application till the disposal of the petition.

According to the Respondent wife, the Appellant was in violation of the order as he had not paid the requisite maintenance amounts. This led to the filing of the Contempt Case by the Respondents. Vide the impugned order, the Court had also felt that there was deliberate disobedience of the order passed by the Family Court, and noted that the Appellant was admittedly residing in Dubai, UAE. The Single Judge held that the Appellant was guilty under Section 10 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971.

Reasoning

On a perusal of the facts of the case, the Bench noted that no amount was paid by the husband and the only submission made by his Counsel was that the Appellant was willing to pay a lump sum of Rs 40 lakh to finally settle the disputes with the Respondent husband; however, she was demanding a higher amount.

“Insofar as the overall settlement is concerned, this Court is of the view that it is between the Appellant and the Respondent to try and amicably resolve their disputes”, it added.

Thus, holding that the Appellant cannot willfully continue to disobey the order passed by the Family Court and refuse to pay maintenance, the Bench upheld the impugned orders and dismissed the appeal.

Cause Title: A v. B (Neutral Citation: 2026:DHC:5337-DB)

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