- (1.) K, C. Agarwal and R. C. Gulati,, JJ. On 24-3-1986 Hon'ble A. P. Misra, J. referred the following question for decision of a larger Bench : Whether under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 955, payment to the petitioner of the expenses of the proceeding would also include, or not, the proceeding. for transfer in the Supreme Court of a proceeding of divorce initiated under his Act instituted in the Delhi Court In consequence, this Bench has been constituted by the Hon'ble the Chief Justice.
(2.) FOR appreciating the controversy involved behind the question referred, the facts very briefly be stated. Diwakar, who is the husband of Smt. Neeru Jain, filed an application under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act for divorce. The application was filed at Delhi. Smt. Neera Jain was a resident of Kanpur. Consequently, she applied in the Supreme Court for transfer of the case pending at Delhi to some other place in Uttar Pradesh. The application was allowed by the Supreme Court by passing the order, mentioned below : By consent of parties, we allow the transfer petition and direct that Matrimonial Case Petition No. 576 of 1986 : Diwakar v. Neera Jain pending before the learned Additional District Judge, Delhi shall stand transferred to the court of the learned District Judge, Muzaifarnagar, who may either try the case himself or assign it to some other court of competent jurisdiction. Thereafter the proceedings started in the court of Additional District Judge, Muzaifarnagar. Before him the application filed by Smt. Neera Jain under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act came up for consideration. She claimed that she was entitled to get the expenses incurred by her in filing the transfer application before the Supreme Court under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act. Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act recites : Where in any proceeding under this Act it appears to the Court that either the wife or the husband, as the case may be, has no indepen dent income sufficient for her or his support and the necessary expenses of the proceeding, it may, on the application of the wife or the husband, order the respondent to pay to the petitioner the expenses of the proceeding, and monthly during the proceeding such sum as, having regard to the petitioner's own income and the income of the respondent, it may seem to the court to be reasonable.
(3.) UNDER Section 24 of the Act what is allowable is the 'expenses of the proceeding'. The proceeding spoken of in Section 24 of the Act does not cover the expenses incurred in prosecution of a transfer application inasmuch as that is not under the Hindu Marriage Act. A transfer application does not arise out of any proceeding contemplated by the Hindu Marriage Act. For the view taken, we find support from the decision reported in Smt. Rachna Sharma v. Chandra Mohan Sharma, AIR 1984 All 302.;