Hindu Marriage Act, 1955:
s. 13(1) – Petition under – On the grounds mentioned in s. 13(1)(ia) and (ib) – Also sought divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage – Refused by courts below – In appeal to Supreme Court sought divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage in exercise of powers under Art. 142 of the Constitution – Held: Supreme Court in exercise of its inherent powers u/Art. 142 can dissolve the marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage, even if the facts of the case do not provide a ground in law on which divorce could be granted – In the facts of the case, the marriage is dissolved on the grounds of irretrievable breakdown of marriage in exercise of power u/Art. 142 on the condition that husband pays a permanent alimony quantified at Rs. twenty lakhs to the wife – Constitution of India – Art. 142.
Allowing the appeal, the Court
HELD: 1. In exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India, the marriage can be dissolved on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage. If both the parties to the marriage agree for separation permanently and/or consent for divorce, in that case, certainly both the parties can move the competent court for a decree of divorce by mutual consent. Only in a case where one of the parties do not agree and give consent, the powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India are required to be invoked to do the substantial Justice between the parties, considering the facts and circumstances of the case. However, at the same time, the interest of the wife is also required to be protected financially so that she may not have to suffer financially in future and she may not have to depend upon others. [Para 6] [879-C-F]
2. The Supreme Court has exercised its inherent powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India for dissolution of a marriage where the Court finds that the marriage is totally unworkable, emotionally dead, beyond salvage and has broken down irretrievably, even if the facts of the case do not provide a ground in law on which the divorce could be granted. In the present case, admittedly, the appellant-husband and the respondent-wife have been living separately for more than 22 years and it will not be possible for the parties to live together. Therefore, while protecting the interest of the respondent-wife to compensate her by way of lump sum permanent alimony, this is a fit case to exercise the powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India and to dissolve the marriage between the parties. [Para 7] [879-F-H; 880-A]
3. The application for divorce filed by the appellanthusband for dissolution of marriage is hereby allowed. The marriage between the appellant-husband and the respondent-wife is ordered to be dissolved in exercise of powers under Article
142 of the Constitution of India on the condition and as agreed by the counsel for the appellant-husband that the appellanthusband shall pay to the respondent-wife a lump sum permanent alimony, quantified at Rs.20,00,000/- (Rupees Twenty Lakhs) to be paid directly to the respondent-wife by way of demand draft within a period of eight weeks. Till the permanent alimony as above is paid to the respondent-wife, the appellant-husband to continue to pay the maintenance as being paid to her. [Para 8] [880-B-C]
Naveen Kohli v. Neelu Kohli (2006) 4 SCC 558 : [2006] 3 SCR 53 ; Samar Ghosh v. Jaya Ghosh (2007)
4 SCC 511 : [2007] 4 SCR 428 ; Sukhendu Das v. Rita Mukherjee (2017) 9 SCC 632 – relied on. Durga Prasad Tripathy v. Arundathi Tripathy (2005)
7 SCC 353 : [2005] 2 Suppl. SCR 833 ; Sanghamitra Ghosh v. Kajal Kumar Ghosh (2007) 2 SCC 220 : [2006] 9 Suppl. SCR 156 ; K. Srinivas Rao v. D.A. Deepa (2013) 5 SCC 226 : [2013] 2 SCR 126 ;
Chetna Dass v. Kamla Devi (2001) 4 SCC 250 : [2001]
3 SCR 20 ; Vishnu Dutt Sharma v. Manju Sharma (2009) 6 SCC 379 : [2009] 3 SCR 891 ; Hitesh Bhatnagar v. Deepa Bhatnagar (2011) 5 SCC 234 : [2001] 6 SCR 118 ; Darshan Gupta v. Radhika Gupta (2013) 9 SCC 1 : [2013] 10 SCR 937 ; Manish Goel v. Rohini Goel (2010) 4 SCC 393 : [2010] 2 SCR 414 – referred to.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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