JAGADAMBHA W/O. P. RAMAJAH D/O. PAPAIAH AND KUM. R. CHITHRA D/O. P. RAMAIAH Vs. SRI P. RAMAIAH S/O. PILLAPPA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) IN this case, the Respondent filed an application in M.C. No. 504/2008 on the file of the II Addl. Principal Judge, Family Court, Bangalore, under Section 13(1)(ia) and (ib) of the Hindu Marriage Act (for short 'the Act') for the dissolution of his marriage with the first Petitioner. In the said petition, the first Petitioner filed an application under Section 24 of the Act seeking interim maintenance of Rs. 8,000/ - per month. In support of the application, the first Petitioner has filed an affidavit contending that her husband is drawing monthly salary of Rs. 29,103.63. She does not have any income of her own. Her daughter is also not employed. The said application was opposed by the Respondent. The court below has allowed the application granting interim maintenance of Rs. 5,000/ - per month to the first Petitioner from the date of the application. The claim of the first Petitioner for grant of maintenance for her daughter (second Petitioner) has been rejected. Feeling aggrieved by the said order, Petitioners have filed this writ petition.

(2.) LEARNED Counsel for the Petitioners would contend that the Respondent is earning more than Rs. 29,000/ - per month. He is working at BHEL, Bangalore. The court below ought to have granted maintenance to the second Petitioner, as she is unemployed. The maintenance awarded to the first Petitioner in a sum of Rs. 5,000/ - per month is also on a lower side.

(3.) THE first contention of the learned Counsel for the Respondent is that the second Petitioner being a major is not entitled for any maintenance. Section 24 of the Act has no application for considering grant of maintenance to the children. Since the first Petitioner has also sought for grant of maintenance for her daughter, the application is referable not only to Section 24 but also Section 26 of the Act. Under Section 26, the Court is authorized to pass interim orders and make such provisions in the decree as it may deem just and proper with respect to the custody, maintenance and education of minor children, consistency with their wishes, wherever possible. A proviso has been added to the said provision by Act No. 49/2001, which has come into effect from 24.9.2001, which stales that the application with respect to the maintenance and education of the minor children, pending the proceedings for obtaining such decree. shall, as far as possible, be disposed of within 60 days from the date of service of notice on the Respondent. A conjoint reading of Section 26 with its proviso would clearly indicate that the Court is authorized to grant maintenance to the children pending disposal of the petition filed under any of the provisions of the Act.