No relief for Omar Abdullah in long-drawn divorce case with Payal Nath

NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has dismissed National Conference leader and former Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah's plea seeking divorce from his estranged wife Payal (Nath) Abdullah, saying there was no merit in his plea.

A panel of Justices Sanjeev Sachdeva and Vikas Mahajan upheld the trial court's decision denying divorce to Abdullah.

The Court agreed with the Family Court's decision that the cruelty allegations Abdullah had made against his wife were 'vague and unproven', and thus dismissed his appeal against the 2016 trial court verdict.

It held that Abdullah had failed to substantiate any acts of his wife, whether physical or mental, that could be deemed as cruelty and stated that he couldn't establish his claims of "cruelty" or "desertion," the grounds he had cited claiming divorce.

Omar Abdullah had claimed that his marriage had broken down irretrievably and that he had not enjoyed conjugal relationship since the year 2007.

In September, the court also increased Payal Abdullah's interim maintenance award by 100% from Rs. 75,000 per month decided by the Family Court in 2018 to Rs. 1,50,000 per month.

Abdullah's 2 major sons were also awarded a maintenance amount of Rs. 60,000 per month for purposes of their education.

The single judge had increased the maintenance award on the ground of Omar Abdullah's financial capacity to provide a decent standard of living to Payal Abdullah and their two sons.

The principle that the maintenance should be commensurate so as to ensure the same standard of living as enjoyed by the awardee during the marriage was also relied upon by the single judge bench.