Civil Revision No. 7705 of 2011 --1-- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA, CHANDIGARH Civil Revision No. 7705 of 2011 Date of decision. 14.12.2011 Sukhjinder Singh .... Petitioner Versus Sandeep Kaur ...... Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE VIJENDER SINGH MALIK 1. Whether Reporters of Local Newspapers may be allowed to see the judgment? 2. To be referred to the Reporters or not? 3. Whether the judgment should be reported in the Digest? Present: Mr. Satbir Gill, Advocate for the petitioner. **** Vijender Singh Malik, J. Sukhjinder Singh, the petitioner has prayed for setting aside the order dated 09.09.2011 passed by learned Additional District Judge, (Fast Track Court), Sirsa (for short 'the trial court'), vide which application of respondent under section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (for short 'the Act') has been allowed and the petitioner has been ordered to pay a sum of Rs.3000/- per month as maintenance pendente lite and Rs.5500/- as litigation expenses. In the petition brought by Sukhjinder Singh for a decree of divorce under section 13 of the Act, an application for maintenance pendente lite has been filed by the respondent claiming that she has got no source of income to maintain herself and is dependent upon her Civil Revision No. 7705 of 2011 --2-- brothers, while the petitioner owns about 60 acres of land in village Mojgarh. It is claimed that even 5 or 6 acres of land in the said village has been transferred in the name of the petitioners by way of partition. According to her, a sum of Rs.40,000/- per acre per annum is the income of such land and, therefore, the income of the petitioner is more than Rs.10,00,000/- per annum. For that reason, she has prayed for grant of maintenance pendente lite in a sum of Rs.20,000/- per month and litigation expenses in a sum of Rs.11,000/-. The application has been opposed by the petitioner claiming that he is always ready and willing to keep her. He has further averred that she is an educated lady, who knows the work of knitting and stitching and she is earning about Rs.5000/- per month. He has further averred that he only owns three acres of land and the same is the only source of his income. According to him, he hardly earns Rs.3000/- or 4000/- per month, out of which he is paying school fees and bearing other expenses of the minor child. Hearing learned counsel for the parties, learned trial court allowed the application and holding that the petitioner is an able bodied person and he can be presumed to be earning sufficient money, so as to reasonably maintain his wife, awarded a sum of Rs.3000/- per month as maintenance pendente lite from the date of application and Rs.5500/- as litigation expenses. I have heard Mr. Satbir Gill, learned counsel for the petitioner and have gone through the record carefully. Civil Revision No. 7705 of 2011 --3-- Learned counsel for the petitioner has contended that the petitioner does not own more than 3 acres of land and that he has got the child of the parties with him for maintenance. According to him, the amount awarded as maintenance pendente lite is on a higher side, which is required to be reduced. It is a case where the wife has claimed the petitioner to own 60 acres of land in village Mojgarh. Even if it is taken that this land is of Hindu undivided family, the petitioner has not denied the extent of holding of the Hindu undivided family to be 60 acres. While the wife has claimed that by way of partition, the petitioner has got 5/6 acres of land, the husband admits that he has got only three acres of land. Most of the husbands facing the liability of maintenance pendente lite try to project the wife as having good income and he himself having very petty income. While the petitioner says that the respondent is well educated lady and is knowing the knitting and stitching work, earning Rs.5000/- per month, he claims to have three acres of land. If it is taken that the petitioner owns three acres of land, a good farmer could earn quite good amount by cultivating three acres of land. The petitioner is undoubtedly an able bodied person, who can earn good amount being a farmer. The amount awarded as maintenance pendente lite is not very huge. A sum of Rs.3000/- per month nowadays is the bare necessity for a woman to just survive and not to live a life of luxury. Civil Revision No. 7705 of 2011 --4-- In these circumstances, I find no reason to hold that learned trial court has committed any illegality in awarding maintenance pendente lite and litigation expenses in the aforesaid sums. Therefore, I do not find any reason to interfere with the impugned order. Consequently, finding no merit in the revision petition, the same is dismissed. (VIJENDER SINGH MALIK) 14.12.2011 JUDGE dinesh