Bombay High Court: While deciding the appeal preferred against the judgement of the Sessions Court, which denied the maintenance granted by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Karad, M.S. Sonak J. modified the order of the Judicial Magistrate First Class and directed the respondent to pay maintenance on monthly basis to the applicant with effect from 1 January 2015 thereby setting aside the order of the Sessions Court.
In the present case Mr. Sawant, learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the evidence on record does establish that the applicant was harassed and therefore compelled to live away from the respondent and the Additional Sessions Judge exceeded the bounds of revisional jurisdiction in interfering with the well reasoned decision of the Judicial Magistrate First Class. On the contrary counsel for the respondent Ms. Bhosale submitted that the Additional Sessions Judge, upon proper appreciation of the material on record has rightly held that the Applicant has abandoned the respondent and his children without reasonable cause.
The Court accepting the contentions of the applicant that the Additional Sessions Judge exceeded his jurisdiction and virtually reassessed the material on record purporting to exercise the appellate jurisdiction, when in fact, revisional jurisdiction was invoked and substituted its own findings in place of those recorded by the JMFC directed the respondent to pay maintenance amount of Rs. 600/- per month to the applicant along with a lump-sum amount of 50,000/- towards maintenance from the date of application till 1 January 2015, and to clear the arrears between 1 January 2015 to the date of this judgement within a month. [ Sou. Vaishali A. Waghmare v. Anil P. Waghmare, decided on December 10, 2015]
