The Bombay High Court has refused to interfere with an order of a lower court asking an industrialist to pay Rs. one lakh monthly maintenance to his wife and two daughters and another sum of Rs. 30,000 per month to them as rent towards accommodation.
A court in Vashi town in nearby Navi Mumbai had passed an interim order asking the industrialist to pay Rs. 1.30 lakh to his estranged wife and children while hearing a domestic violence complaint filed by the wife.
Justice M L Tahilyani said he also did not find anything wrong with an earlier order of a Delhi court asking the industrialist to pay Rs. 20,000 per month to his wife and kids as maintenance while hearing a divorce petition filed by him.
The husband had challenged both the orders of the Navi Mumbai court as well as Delhi court. He argued that he was already paying Rs. 20,000 per month to his estranged wife and children and therefore the Navi Mumbai Court order asking him to pay additional Rs. 1.30 lakh was not justified.
“I do not find anything wrong in the orders of both the courts. As such these orders do not call for any interference,” the Judge remarked.
However, the Judge directed the trial magistrate in Navi Mumbai — before whom the case filed by estranged wife is pending since last more than four years because of intervening proceedings — to expeditiously decide it as soon as possible.
The industrialist argued that the company in which he was a Managing Director had reduced his salary from Rs. 24 lakh to Rs. six lakh per annum. Hence, he had an income of Rs. 50,000 per month and it was difficult for him to pay Rs. 1.30 lakh ordered by the Navi Mumbai Court to his estranged wife.
His wife argued that he was a Director of the company along with his brother and therefore it was easy for him to pass a resolution reducing his salary. He had done so to avoid making such payments ordered by the court to her, she alleged.
