1 IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT BOMBAY CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Amk WRIT PETITION NO. 9654 OF 2009 Srushti Swapnil Barde .. Petitioner Vs. Swapnil Suresh Barde .. Respondent Mr. S. I. Jayakar (Lalwani) for the Petitioner. Mr. Rajeev Patil i/b Mr. Sameer Singh for the Respondent. CORAM : MRS. R. S. DALVI, J. Date : 22nd February, 2010. P.C. 1. The wife has challenged the order granting interim maintenance by the Family Court. The wife pursues a career. She earns Rs.70,000/- p.m. The learned Judge has rightly not granted her any interim maintenance as Rs. 70,000/- is reasonably sufficient for her maintenance. 2. The husband is stated to be earning three times more than the wife. He claims to be earning Rs. 90,000/-. Hence the wife claims to be maintained by him despite her own income. The law relating to maintenance does not permit a career woman, otherwise earning sufficiently, to be 2 maintained by her husband, merely because he earns even more than she does. However, the exact earnings of both the parties can be determined only upon evidence. It is then that the wife would be able to claim, if otherwise entitled, to permanent alimony taking into account the parties’ incomes as well as properties & assets. At the interim stage, in view of her otherwise sufficient means to be able to maintain herself, the order not granting maintenance for herself cannot be faulted. 3. The learned Judge has granted interim maintenance of Rs.5,500/- for the child of the parties. The wife has shown expenses far in excess of interim maintenance amount granted to her. Of course both the husband and the wife are in a financial position and therefore obliged to spend for their child. Consequently the wife cannot claim entire expenses incurred by her unilaterally without the consent of the husband for the maintenance of the child. 4. The wife has shown school fees of Rs.22,300/- + 3 Rs.22,300/- paid by her. She has further shown Rs.51,000/- paid by her later as an annual fee. She has also shown other expenses receipted by the school of Rs.8,200/-, camp expenses, vacation expenses etc. reflected in her bank account. 5. Interim maintenance amount for the child, which must be reasonably incurred by both the parties given their financial status from their admitted income, has to be paid. Rs.5,500/- appears to be rather on the lower side for the parties in their income bracket. The amount requires a modification/revision, without calculating the exact amount which should be paid, pending the maintenance petition in the Family Court. 6. A reasonable amount payable by the husband for the expenses shown to be incurred by the wife for their child would be Rs.10,000/- p.m. The husband, given that he admittedly earns Rs.90,000/- p.m. (which is denied by the wife who claims that he earns much more) cannot grudge the payment of such reasonable expenses for his only child. 4 Hence, the following order :- :: O R D E R :: The impugned order is modified to grant Rs. 10,000/- p.m. as an interim maintenance for the child. Writ petition is allowed and rule is made absolute to that extent. This amount shall be paid by the husband from this month without prejudice to the rights and contentions of both the parties in the final application. (R. S. DALVI, J.)