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Ensure disclosure of parties’ assets, liabilities in maintenance cases: Allahabad HC to U.P. courts
Allahabad HC mandates disclosure of assets in maintenance cases. Husband challenged order to pay maintenance, citing lack of disclosure. Court sets aside order for fresh decision.
The Allahabad high court has directed all judicial magistrates as well as presiding officers of family courts in the state, dealing with maintenance proceedings, to mandatorily pass a specific order directing the parties (husband and wife) to file their affidavits of disclosure of assets and liabilities.
Justice Mayank Kumar Jain passed the order on March 12, 2024 in a petition filed by one Santosh Kumar Jaiswal who had challenged the order of lower court directing him to pay maintenance to his wife and daughter. As per Jaiswal’s wife, her husband was earning ₹2 lakh per month by running a provisional store.
But according to Jaiswal, he was running a small provisional store in a rented shop. However, his wife was running a beauty parlour and was earning ₹30,000 per month.
The husband had challenged the order of district court under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence (DV) Act, 2005 directing him to pay maintenance of ₹2,000 to his wife and ₹1,000 to his daughter per month from the date of the order.
Counsel for the husband argued, “The court below failed to follow the Supreme Court’s guidelines in the case of Rajnesh vs Neha (supra) as they did not direct him to file his affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities.”
It was further argued that it was the duty of the trial court to direct the applicant to file his affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities. In the absence of such an affidavit, the court cannot arrive at a rightful conclusion about the financial status of the applicant.
The court after hearing parties concerned observed, “It seems appropriate to direct that when an application under Section 125 of CrPC or a complaint under Section 12 of DV Act or an application under Section 24 of Hindu Marriage Act is filed before the Court concerned, it should by passing a specific order on the order-sheet direct the applicant to file his/her affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities in accordance with the guidelines given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court,”
The court set aside the maintenance order and directed the district court to decide the maintenance plea afresh after inviting an affidavit of disclosure of assets and liabilities from the parties.
