The Court made this observation while it was dealing with a revision plea filed by the wife challenging an order given by a Family Court directing her husband to pay a maintenance of Rs. 6,000 per month.

The husband had later remarried and had a child born out of the new marriage. He also had a dependent father aged 79 years and a divorced sister who used to receive maintenance from her husband.

It noted that the father of the husband was a non-earning person and therefore said that he should enjoy his old age.
The Court further added that it is the duty of the son or daughter to take care of his or her parents during the golden days of their life.

“Relationships cannot be caged in a mathematical formula alone in every case. Each case has to be decided in view of its special and peculiar circumstances which may warrant indulgence of the Court. No doubt in cases involving grant of maintenance calculation has to be made in terms of financial capacity, the same needs to be done keeping in mind all family circumstances,” the Court said.

The Court also rejected another argued put forth by the counsel for the petitioner that a divorced sister cannot be held to be dependent on the wife.

The Court thus observed that though the divorced sister can legally and morally claim maintenance from her husband, however the respondent brother, at the same time, must be spending and is expected to spend some amount for his sister on special occasions and in case of any emergent need.

“In my opinion, this stand is meritless to the extent that in India, the bond between siblings and their dependence on each other may not always be financial but it is expected that a brother or sister will not abandon or neglect his or her sibling in time of need,” the Court said.

The Court also noted that even though the father of the respondent did not appear before the Court, it cannot be denied that he had to depend on his son at the age of 79.

The court said, “The father may not have considered filing case for maintenance before a Court of law. At times, parents may feel sad and inferior even at the thought of being maintained by their child and asking for maintenance. Their love and affection for their child is so overpowering that they may decide to live uncomfortably but not ask for maintenance. Parents want to feel independent as they don‟t live with their children, their children live with them. With these thoughts in mind, I hold that the needs of the father are not many as he is staying with the respondent but a certain amount of expenditure must be apportioned for his needs.”

The Court further noted that since the son of the respondent from the first wife had already attained majority, therefore, the respondent husband would have 4 dependents on his income i.e. he himself, the petitioner wife, the subsequent wife and the daughter born from the subsequent wedlock, apart from some expenditure on his father and his divorced sister.

Therefore, the Court opined that his income would have to be divided into 5 shares, two shares to be allocated to the respondent husband as being the earning member and one share each to the remaining dependents.

Noting that approximately Rs.7,500 will come to the share of all the dependents, the Court therefore increased the maintenance amount awarded to the petitioner from Rs. 6,000 to Rs. 7,500 per month from the date on which the respondent husband received his first enhanced salary, which according to the Trial Court was February, 2018.

“The maintenance cannot be enhanced from the date of the application as the present petition is under Section 127 Cr.P.C. wherein, the maintenance amount has to be decided on the basis of the date on which the salary of the husband had changed,” the Court ordered.

Accordingly, the plea was disposed of.

Case Title: SARITA BAKSHI v. STATE & ANR.