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Alimony shall be 1/3rd of the gross salary of a husband towards the wife : Calcutta high court

Alimony shall be 1/3rd of the gross salary of a husband towards the wife : Calcutta high court

 

 

In view of the provisions of section 60 (I) (a) of the code of civil procedure the attachment of gross salary of the petitioner for realisation of arrears amount of maintenance of the opposite party wife must be limited to 1/3rd of the gross salary, is upheld by the high court of Calcutta by the learned bench of honourable Mr. Justice R.K Bag in the case Sri Ramtaran Chakraborty V Smt. Sonali Chakraborty in C.O. No. 4201 of 2013.

FACTS

The petitioner filed Mat. Suit No. 11 of 2009 against the opposite party praying for divorce before the Court of learned Additional District Judge, 4th Court, Alipore. The opposite party-wife filed an application in the said Mat. Suit for alimony pendente lite. By passing order of 1st July, 2010 in Mat. Suit No. 11 of 2009, the Court granted alimony pendente lite in favour of the opposite party-wife at the rate of Rs. 5,000/- per month and the litigation cost of Rs. 5,000/- at a time. The said order dated 1st July, 2010 passed by learned Additional District Judge, 4th Court, Alipore in Mat. Suit No. 11 of 2009 was affirmed by this Court on 10th September, 2010 in C.O. No. 2832 of 2010.

The petitioner made unsuccessful attempt for modification of the said order by filing another civil revision before this Court which was disposed of on 11th April, 2013 in C.O. No. 4004 of 2012. Thereafter, the opposite party filed Matrimonial Execution No. 29 of 2011 before the said Court for realisation of Rs. 60,000/- as arrears of maintenance from the petitioner. Learned Additional District Judge passed the order on 16th November, 2013 directing the salary disbursing authority of the petitioner to deduct Rs. 10,000/- per month from the salary of the petitioner till realisation of Rs. 60,000/-. The said order is under challenge before this Court in this revision.

JUDGEMENT

The court ruled after having heard learned counsels of both parties, that the petitioner has produced the pay certificates of June, 2011 and October, 2011, which indicate that the gross salary of the petitioner was Rs. 17,090/- in the month of June, 2011 and Rs. 18,570/- in the month of October, 2011. The increase of salary of the petitioner by Rs. 1,500/- must be for getting increment in between June, 2011 and October, 2011. By the said calculation the salary of the petitioner must have been increased upto Rs. 4,500/- till October, 2014. In the absence of any other document before this Court for ascertaining the gross salary of the petitioner, the court safely rely on the two pay certificates of the petitioner and come to the conclusion that the present gross salary of the petitioner will be about Rs. 22,000/- per month.

In view of the provisions of Section 60 (i) (ia) of the Code of Civil Procedure, the attachment of gross salary of the petitioner for realisation of arrears amount of maintenance of the opposite party- wife must be limited to 1⁄3 of the gross salary. Accordingly, the amount of deduction per month must not exceed of Rs. 7,000/- per month. Since learned Additional District Judge directed the salary disbursing authority of the petitioner to deduct Rs. 10,000/- per month from the salary of the petitioner which is more than 1⁄3 of the gross salary of the petitioner, the court is  inclined to modify the order passed by learned Additional District Judge so that the entire amount of arrears of maintenance may be realised from the gross salary of the petitioner by way of deduction at the rate of Rs. 6,000/- per month with effect from October, 2014.


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Judgement reviewed by -Rani Banerjee.

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