Delhi high court unveils new formula to decide maintenance

The Delhi high court (HC) unveiled a unique formula on Tuesday that gives a huge monetary relief to men facing the prospect of a divorce.

While deciding how much maintenance Puneet Sethi should give to his estranged wife and child, HC justice SN Dhingra said, “If there are three dependents on the salary of a man, he would be entitled to half of it and the other two dependents would get the remaining half.

“While passing an interim order for maintenance, the court has to keep in mind the means and earning of the man and the law in respect of grant of maintenance to wife and child.”

Puneet had challenged a trial court order for paying Rs5,000 as monthly maintenance despite his proving the fact that he did not earn a handsome salary.

Puneet said he was employed with an electricity company as a diploma engineer and his salary was nearly Rs7,000.
After studying the salary certificates provided by the company, HC said, “Trial courts should be considerate while ordering maintenance.”

The court considered the latest salary slip of Puneet and dismissed the trial court order delivered under the Domestic Violence Act.

“In the present case, when the salary of the man was around Rs6,500, granting interim maintenance of Rs5,000 to wife and child was unjust and improper. I, therefore, consider that the order of the learned metropolitan magistrate [MM] and the learned additional sessions judge [ASJ] needs modification. The impugned order passed by learned MM and learned ASJ is modified to the extent that the interim maintenance payable to wife and child instead of Rs5,000 shall be half the salary of husband, which comes to around Rs3,400 per month,” justice Dhingra said.

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Haider Ajaz