Punjab and Haryana High Court: The Bench of Arun Monga, J., allowed waiver statutory period of 6 months for dissolution of marriage and granted divorce to the couple entrapped in an irretrievably broken marriage.
The petitioners had approached the Court under Article 227 of Constitution for setting aside the impugned order of the Family Court whereby application for waiver of the statutory period of 6 months filed in a joint petition under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, had been dismissed, being not in consonance with the guidelines laid down by Supreme Court in case of Amardeep Singh v. Harveen Kaur, (2017) 8 SCC 746. The marriage of the parties was solemnized in 2001 according to Hindu Rites and Ceremonies. The parties had two children, one son who unfortunately died. While the daughter was married and was living in a matrimonial home. Due to temperamental differences, the parties had been living separately since December, 2015.
Since there were no chances of reconciliation, therefore, the parties filed a joint petition for the dissolution of their marriage by way of mutual consent, under Section 13-B of HMA. All the disputes regarding permanent alimony etc. were settled and a sum of Rs. 2 lakhs (out of the settled amount of Rs.5 lakhs) was paid by petitioner 2 to petitioner 1. Hence, both the parties had moved an application for waiver of statutory period of six months, which had been dismissed by the Family Court.
The petitioners argued that the Court below had not rightly appreciated the facts and circumstances of the case while not waiving the period of 6 months. It was contended that they had consented to part their ways and were being unnecessarily asked to wait for another six months.
In the light of the above, the Bench opined that the marriage of the petitioners had broken down irretrievably and there was no possibility of any reconciliation between them. Therefore, the order of the Court below in insisting the parties to wait for another six months for the second motion hearing, was totally uncalled for. Holding that the marriage between the parties had irretrievably broken and now they had decided to part their ways, so that they both have an opportunity to live their lives in the manner they like, hence, insistence of the Court below to wait to another six months would result in adding to their woes. Consequently, the revision petition was allowed and the impugned order was set-aside. The Family Court was directed to entertain the petition filed by the petitioners by waiving off six months period and proceed with the petition in accordance with law.[Sunita v. Yogesh Kumar, 2021 SCC OnLine P&H 1057, decided on 19-04-2021]
Kamini Sharma, Editorial Assistant ahs reported this brief.
Appearance before the Courts by:
For the Petitioner: Adv. Amit Choudhary
