TA No.55 of 2011 1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH TA No.55 of 2011 Date of decision : 01.03.2011 Saroj Bala ...Applicant Versus Rakesh Kumar ...Respondent CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE JITENDRA CHAUHAN Present: Mr. K.S. Rekhi, Advocate for the applicant. Mr. Sudhir Paruthi, Advocate, for the respondent. JITENDRA CHAUHAN, J. (Oral) 1. The present application under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, has been filed seeking transfer of petition titled as ‘Rakesh Kumar Vs. Saroj Bala’, filed by the respondent under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (for short `the Act'), from the Court of learned Additional District Judge, Jalandhar, to the Court of competent jurisdiction at Amritsar. TA No.55 of 2011 2 2. Learned counsel for the applicant contends that the applicant on behalf of her minor children, Ms. Nancy and Master Chetan alias Charu has filed a petition under Section 20/25 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, which is pending adjudication before the learned Civil Judge, Senior Division, Amritsar. 3. Learned counsel for the applicant further contends that the applicant is a resident of Amritsar and the respondent has filed the petition under Section 13 of the Act at Jalandhar only to harass the applicant. 4. Learned counsel for the respondent has vehemently opposed the prayer. A reply on behalf of the respondent has been filed in the Court today, which is taken on record. 5. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties. 6. Hon'ble the Supreme Court in Neelam Kanwar vs Devinder Singh Kanwar, 2001(1) M.L.J. 509 (SC), has observed as under:- “We are mindful of the fact that the petitioner is a lady and first respondent is a male, and, therefore, (for) convenience of wife, a transfer to the place where the lady is residing, would be preferred by this Court unless, it is shown that there are special reason not to do so. No special reason is shown.” 7. Saroj Bala, the applicant-wife, is residing at Amritsar. The respondent-husband filed a petition under Section 13 of the Act, which is pending before learned Additional District Judge, Jalandhar. The TA No.55 of 2011 3 respondent is also a resident of Amritsar. In the circumstances, it would certainly be difficult for the wife, employed at Amritsar and saddled with the responsibility of raising her minor children, to attend the court proceedings at Jalandhar. 8. Considering the fact that the applicant is a resident of Amritsar and primarily, the convenience of the wife is to be seen, therefore, in my opinion, the balance of convenience is in favour of the applicant-wife and against the respondent. Accordingly, the petition filed by the respondent titled as ‘Rakesh Kumar Vs. Saroj Bala’ under Section 13 of the Act, pending in the Court of learned Additional District Judge, Jalandhar, deserves to be transferred to Amritsar. 9. In view of the above, the instant transfer application is allowed and the petition under Section 13 of the Act titled as ‘Rakesh Kumar Vs. Saroj Bala’ is withdrawn from the Court of learned Additional District Judge, Jalandhar, and is transferred to the Court of competent jurisdiction at Amritsar. The entire record pertaining to the petition under Section 13 of the Act shall be sent by the trial Court at Jalandhar to the learned District Judge, Amritsar, within three weeks, who will either himself dispose it of or entrust it to any other Court of competent jurisdiction. 10. The parties shall appear before the Court of learned District Judge, Amritsar, on 30.03.2011. 01.03.2011 (JITENDRA CHAUHAN) atulsethi JUDGE TA No.55 of 2011 4 Note : Whether to be referred to Reporter ? Yes / No