IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB AND HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Revision No. 2895 of 2010 (O&M) Date of Decision : 04.05.2010. Shish Pal ......Petitioner Versus Sawita ......Respondent CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE NAWAB SINGH Present: Mr. Rakesh Gupta, Advocate, for Mr. Vikram Singh, Advocate, for the petitioner. NAWAB SINGH J.(ORAL) Challenge is to the order dated March 27th, 2010 (Annexure P/1) passed by Additional District Judge, (Fast Track Court), Karnal, whereby, respondent-wife and minor son were allowed interim maintenance at the rate of Rs.3000/- per month and Rs.5000/- as litigation expenses on the application filed by her under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, in a petition filed by her husband-petitioner under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act. 2. The solitary contention of learned counsel for the petitioner is that the petitioner is handicapped and as such, he is not in a position to pay the interim maintenance and litigation expenses as awarded by the trial Court. 3. The submission is untenable. Admittedly, the minor child is being looked after by the respondent. It is the prime duty of the husband to maintain the wife and minor child. One cannot lose sight of the fact that it is a case of maintenance pendente-lite during the pendency of the petition filed by the husband against the wife. It is established principle of law that while dealing with the ambit and scope of the provision contained in Section 24 of the Act, it has to be borne in mind that the dominant and primary object is to give social justice to the wife or the husband as the case may be to prevent destitution. The cost of living has increased manifold. In these days Civil Revision No. 2895 of 2010 (O&M) -2- .. of inflation, an amount of Rs.100/- per day shall hardly be sufficient for the respondent-wife and minor child to keep their body and soul together. 4. In view of above, the order under challenge does not call for any interference. The petition is accordingly dismissed. (NAWAB SINGH) JUDGE 04.05.2010 som