A man in Mumbai was paying ₹50,000 a month to his wife and young son, and he was also paying the home loans on two houses. The Bombay High Court has now cut that monthly sum in half.
Justice MM Sathaye, sitting alone, passed the order last week. It set aside a Family Court order from January 2025 that had fixed the payment at ₹50,000 a month. The new figure is ₹25,000.
The court noted that the man is paying the EMIs on both properties. One is in Andheri, where his wife and son live. The other is in Panvel, in Navi Mumbai. He himself is living in Bihar. His wife, the court observed, is putting nothing toward the repayment of either loan.
The man had asked his wife to choose. She could move to Bihar and live with him, or she could shift into the Panvel house. That would let him sell the Andheri flat and lighten his load. She said no to both.
The court saw nothing wrong in the request. If she wanted the comfort of a premium locality like Andheri while paying none of the loan, the bench said, he could not be stopped from citing that as grounds for lower alimony.
The judge also spoke about equality more broadly. It cannot be applied selectively, the court said, and where both spouses earn, both must contribute to the lifestyle they want. The same goes for the child’s schooling. If both parents have an income and want a good education for their child, both are expected to share the cost.
The man told the court he lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic and now works at a much lower salary. The court accepted that the pandemic hurt the careers and businesses of many people, and found that his fall in income was a genuine result.
