Husband cannot wash his hands of responsibility to maintain wife and child: Karnataka HC [Read Order]

Karnataka: The Karnataka High Court has dismissed a petition challenging orders for interim maintenance, emphasizing the husband’s duty to support his wife and child, even in cases involving employment disputes.

Justice M. Nagaprasanna heard a criminal petition filed by a husband seeking to set aside lower court orders that directed him to pay interim maintenance to his estranged wife and child.

The court noted that the petitioner, an Assistant Professor earning Rs. 30,000 per month, was ordered to pay Rs. 5,000 each to his wife and 5-year-old child as interim maintenance.

Rejecting the husband’s argument of financial difficulty, the court held, “Payment of fees is an entirely different responsibility apart from the husband paying maintenance to support the child and the wife.”

The court further observed that the wife had quit her job at the husband’s insistence to care for their child, stating, “It is the duty of the husband to maintain the wife and the child and not to wash his hands of the responsibility of maintenance.”

Expressing concern over the non-payment of maintenance, the court noted, “According to the learned counsel, the arrears amount to Rs. 3,70,000/-. When questioned by the court as to when the arrears would be cleared, the learned counsel for the petitioner submits that the petitioner is not in a position to clear the arrears nor pay maintenance.”

The court concluded, “Given these factors, entertaining a petition from the petitioner—husband who is in gross default in payment of maintenance—does not arise.”

In conclusion, while dismissing the petition and upholding the lower court’s orders for interim maintenance, the High Court emphasized the husband’s responsibility to support his family, particularly when the wife had given up employment at his request to care for their child.
 

[Read Order]