Wife's Income Not Sufficient To Maintain Standard Of Living She Is Accustomed To In Matrimonial Home: Bombay High Court Upholds Order Of Maintenance To Wife

The Bombay High Court held that merely because the Wife is earning, she cannot be deprived of the support from her husband with the same standard of living to which she is accustomed to in her matrimonial home.

A Writ Petition was filed by the Husband challenging the Family Court’s order of granting interim maintenance to the Wife on the ground that the Wife is already employed and earning.

The Bench of Justice Manjusha Deshpande observed, “There is a huge disparity in the income of the Petitioner and the Respondent, which cannot be compared. The Respondent-wife is certainly entitled to be maintained with the same standard of living as she was accustomed to before their separation.”

Advocate Shashipal Shankar represented the Petitioner, while Advocate S. S Dube appeared for the Respondent.

Case Brief

A Divorce Petition was pending between the Parties, and an interim maintenance of Rs. 15,000 was granted to the Wife by the Family Court. The Husband filed the Writ Petition challenging the said Order of the Family Court.

The Husband contended that the Wife is already employed as a Teacher and also has income sources through tuition classes and interest from fixed deposits. It was also submitted by the Husband that he had to incur expenses towards his parents, such as medicines, mobile bills, etc.

The Wife contended that the Husband has suppressed material facts from the Court with an object to mislead the Court. It was submitted that the Husband has deliberately suppressed the details of his employment. He is employed at a reputed company on the post of Senior Manager/ Marketing Executive and has potential financial resources.

Court’s Reasoning

The Bombay High Court observed that the claim of the Husband has been falsified by the salary slips filed by him, which discloses his salary to be Rs. 1,51,284 in April 2022. The Court also found that the parents of Husband are not financially dependent on him as the father of husband draws a pension of Rs. 28,000.

The Court emphasises that there is a huge disparity in the income of the Husband and Wife, and while determining the quantum of maintenance, the income of parties, their age, their responsibilities, their reasonable needs, necessities and income derived from other sources are required to be taken into consideration.

The Bombay High Court referred to the decision of the Supreme Court in Pravin Kumar Jain V. Anju Jain (2024), wherein the criteria for fixing the amount of maintenance were reiterated, which reads as:

A. Status of the parties, social and financial.

B. Reasonable needs of the wife and the dependant children.

C. Parties' individual qualifications and employment statuses.

D. Independent income or assets owned by the applicant.

E. Standard of life enjoyed by the wife in the matrimonial home.

F. Any employment sacrifices made for responsibilities.

G. Reasonable litigation costs for a non-working wife.

H. Financial capacity of the husband, his income, maintenance obligations, and liabilities.

“In the present case though the wife is earning, the said income is not sufficient for her own maintenance since she has to travel daily a long distance for her job. She is staying with her parents which she cannot stay indefinitely. Because of her meager earning, she is constrained to stay in the house of her brother alongwith her parents causing inconvenience and hardship to all of them. In such a income she is not in a position to live a decent life. As against, it if compared against the Petitioner's income, his income is far more than the Respondent-wife's, with no financial responsibilities on him…merely because the Wife is earning, she cannot be deprived of the support from her husband with the same standard of living to which she is accustomed to in her matrimonial home”, the Court held.

In the light of the above, the Bombay High Court observed that the Wife needs to be granted maintenance from the income of the Husband since her own income is insufficient for her maintenance.

Accordingly, the Court dismissed the Writ Petition.

Cause Title: Sachindra Kamala Prasad Shukla V. Priya Savhindra Shukla (Neutral Citation: 2025:BHC-AS:25090)

Appearance:

Petitioner: Advocate Shashipal Shanka

Respondent: Advocates S. S. Dube and Nagendra Dube

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