HIGH COURT: Family Court cannot pass unilateral order for maintenance

PRAYAGRAJ

Allahabad High Court  has held  that the Family Court cannot pass a unilateral order for maintenance under Section 125 of CrPC without hearing the other party.While disposing the review petition Mr justice Ram Manohar Narayan Mishra,  canceled the warrant for recovery of outstanding alimony issued against the petitioner.

The Court also directed the Family Court, Agra, to hear the matter again and dispose of the application for maintenance allowance afresh within six months.The court also ordered the petitioner to pay Rs 5,000 per month for the maintenance of his wife and minor son and the outstanding amount of Rs 1 lakh.

According to the facts of the said petition ,the petitioner’s wife filed an application before the Family Court, Agra, under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The court passed an ex-parte order to give Rs 6,000 per month to the wife and Rs 3,000 per month to the minor son. Along with this, an order was given to pay the outstanding amount of Rs 2.52 lakh.

When the petitioner did not pay the amount, the wife filed an application to comply with the order, on which the Family Court issued a recovery warrant. The petitioner filed a review petition against this in the High Court. It was argued on behalf of the petitioner advocate that the Family Court has passed the order unilaterally. He came to know about this after the warrant was issued.