Couple equally placed, Supreme Court denies wife maintenance

NEW DELHI: Noting that a woman who is employed and holds the same post as her husband and can take care of herself independently, Supreme Court has turned down her plea seeking maintenance from her estranged husband.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan refused to grant relief to the woman who is working as an assistant professor and sought maintenance from her husband. "Both the first petitioner and respondent (husband and wife) are holding the same post of an Assistant Professor. No case for interference is made out in exercise of our jurisdiction under Article 136 of the Constitution of India. The special leave petition is accordingly dismissed," the court said in its brief order.

The bench was hearing a plea of the wife seeking maintenance but her plea was opposed by her estranged husband who alleged that she did not need maintenance as she was earning herself. Opposing her plea, advocate Shashank Singh, appearing for the husband, told the court that she was earning around Rs 60,000 per month and both of them were holding the post of the same grade.

But the wife pleaded that she was entitled to maintenance and the wife's earning capacity and qualification cannot automatically absolve the husband of his obligation to provide maintenance. She told the bench that her husband was earning around Rs 1 lakh per month. As there was dispute over their monthly salaries, the court had directed both of them to place before it the salary slip of the last one year.

Wife approached the apex court after her plea of maintenance was rejected by Madhya Pradesh HC and a trial court.