India / Obligation of father does not end after son turns 18: Delhi High Court

Zoom News : Jun 24, 2021, 07:35 AM
New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Tuesday said that a father’s obligation does not end as soon as his son turns 18 years as the burden of his education and other expenses cannot fall only on the mother. The court made this observation while granting ₹15,000 interim maintenance to a divorced woman to cover expenses for her adult son until the time he completes graduation or starts earning.

The court said that it cannot turn a blind eye to the rising costs of living and said that it is unreasonable to let the mother single-handedly bear the entire burden for herself and for her children. The husband was giving a small amount of maintenance for the maintenance of their daughter.

“The woman has to take care of the entire expenditure of the son who has now attained majority but is not earning because he is still studying. The Family Court, therefore, failed to appreciate the fact that since no contribution is being made by the respondent (man) herein towards the son, the salary earned by the woman would not be sufficient for the woman to maintain herself,” Justice Subramonium Prasad said, according to a PTI report.

The estranged couple got married in November 1997 and had two children. They divorced in November 2011. The son and the daughters are 20 and 18 years old respectively.

“The two children are living with the mother. Since the purpose of granting interim maintenance is to ensure that the wife and the children are not put to starvation, the courts while fixing interim maintenance are not expected to dwell into minute and excruciating details and facts which have to be proved by the parties,” the court said.

“This court is therefore inclined to grant a sum of ₹15,000 per month as interim maintenance to the woman from the date of son attaining the age of majority till he completes his graduation or starts earning whichever is earlier,” the court further added.

The high court noted that the woman was working as an upper division clerk in Delhi Municipal Corporation, earning about ₹60,000 per month. The court also said as per salary certificate filed by the man the gross monthly income, as on November, 2020, was ₹1.67 lakh.

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