The maintenance includes the reasonable expenses and incident to her marriage apart from food, clothing, residence, education and medical attendance and treatment: Allahabad High Court
A daughter can claim maintenance from either of her parents, in case, she is unable to maintain herself or is unable to bear the expenses related to her marriage. Such an observation was made by the Hon’ble Allahabad High Court before Hon’ble Justice Mrs. Sunita Agarwal & Hon’ble Justice Krishan Pahal in the matter of Roshni Tiwari vs Balmukund Tiwar[FIRST APPEAL No. – 400 of 2021].
The facts of the case were that the applicant was a student of the “Post Basic Nursing Training course” and she was not receiving any maintenance from her father. It was the contention of the petitioner that since her father has not contributed to her studies, it is the duty of her father to incur the expenses of her marriage at least.
The Hon’ble High Court observed that the father has not contributed to her studies and her mother alone had incurred all the expenses. Though it was the responsibility of the father to bear expenses of education He only gave Rs. 1000/- as maintenance till she became major and after that, it was also stopped.
Additionally, the Hon’ble High Court stated that “No plausible explanation could be offered by the respondent father as to why he did not discharge his responsibility towards his children. He never looked after them nor offered any kind of financial support. When the claimant appellant has somehow managed to study, her claim for maintenance is being contested on the ground that she has started earning during pendency of the application. Such an argument is illegal in the eyes of law. ”
Further, the Hon’ble High Court also stated that “The family court while rejecting the application under Section 20(3) of Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 has simply ignored that the applicant had incurred all expenditures towards her education, in pursuing the nursing course and at no point of time, during the entire period, till and after she attained majority, her education and living expenses were borne by the father. The family court had completely ignored that the appellant has a right to claim expenses towards the performance of her marriage from her father under the statute. ”
Finally, the Hon’ble High Court allowed the application and directed the respondent to pay Rs. 10 Lacs by submitting the demand drafts before this Court in two installments.
Click Here To Read The Judgment.
Judgment Reviewed by: Rohan Kumar Thakur