“Equality cannot be claimed selectively.” With those words the Bombay High Court cut the interim maintenance a husband must pay his wife and son from Rs 50,000 a month to Rs 25,000.
Justice M.M. Sathaye heard the petition, filed by a chartered accountant. He was challenging a Family Court order from January 2025 that set the Rs 50,000 payment, counted from October 30, 2021.
The husband said he had lost a high-paying job during the Covid-19 pandemic and moved from Mumbai to his native place in Madhya Pradesh. He now works as a chartered accountant there on a much smaller income. He was also paying EMIs on two flats, one in Andheri and one in Panvel, and was struggling with maintenance arrears.
He had made an offer. He would pay Rs 25,000 a month if his wife moved into the Panvel flat, which would let him sell the Andheri property and clear his debts. She said no. She did not want to leave Andheri.
The High Court found that the Family Court had not looked objectively at the husband’s present income, and said the effect of the pandemic on businesses and professions could not be ignored. It also pointed out that the wife was earning and was putting nothing toward the EMIs on either flat.
“If lifestyle is to be maintained, both parties must contribute,” the court said. It went on: “If the wife expects the luxury of staying at a premium location like Andheri, Mumbai without paying EMI from her own pocket… equality cannot be claimed selectively.”
The couple’s son’s schooling got a similar remark. Where both parents are expected to pay, the court said, one parent should not decide the school and the fees alone.
The court set aside the Family Court’s order and directed the husband to pay Rs 25,000 a month to his wife and son until the maintenance case is finally decided. He has 12 weeks to clear the revised arrears, or the earlier order revives. The Family Court has nine months to decide the main maintenance application.
