High Court tells NRI doctor to pay Rs 15,000 for daughter's education

MUMBAI: The

Bombay HC

has ordered an NRI doctor to pay Rs 15,000 per month as maintenance to his 13-year-old daughter who lives with his estranged wife in Pune.

A division bench of Justice Abhay Oka and Justice

Anuja Prabhudessai

said that the daughter was entitled to live in the same comfort as her father who is a medical practitioner in the United Kingdom.

"The daughter is studying in a public school in Pune. Fees must have substantially increased (since 2009). In addition to the school fees, the daughter will require substantial amount for purchase of books and other equipment, tuition fees, fees payable for extra-curricular activities and school bus fees," said the judges. "Apart from that, the members of the family of the husband are entitled to maintain the same lifestyle that he is enjoying," they added.

Dr Sameer Patil had contended that his former wife

Seema Patil

was an engineer working in an IT company and was earning around Rs 1 lakh a month. Further, the daughter's tuition fee was around Rs 34,000 annually and his former wife could pay for it.

The high court pointed out that Dr Sameer earned around 2,800 UK pounds per month and based on the conversion rate the maintenance amount was barely 10% of his salary.

"Considering the lifestyle of both the father and mother and the fact that the minor girl is taking her education, the estimation of expenditure of Rs 30,000 per month for her cannot be said to be unreasonable at all. The husband has been directed to contribute only 50% of this, though his income is much more than the income earned by the former wife," said the judges.

Dr Sameer and Seema were granted divorce by a family court in Pune in 2013. The court ordered that the custody of their daughter will be with Seema and Sameer would have visitation rights.

The court also asked Sameer to share the maintenance amount with his former wife. Sameer challenged the family court's order on the point of maintenance on the grounds that his former wife was earning a good salary. He also claimed that Rs 15,000 that the court had ordered him to pay was excessive.

(Names changed to protect family's identity)

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