Civil Revision No. 6402 of 2009 -1- IN THE HIGH COURT OF PUNJAB & HARYANA AT CHANDIGARH Civil Revision No. 6402 of 2009 Date of decision : May 10, 2010 Sarabjit Singh Grewal ....Petitioner versus Sukhwinder Kaur Grewal ....Respondent Coram: Hon'ble Mr. Justice L.N. Mittal Present : Mr. R.K. Singla, Advocate, for the petitioner Mr. Arihant Jain, Advocate for the respondent L.N. Mittal, J. (Oral) By this common order, I am disposing of two revision petitions i.e. Civil Revision No. 6402 of 2009, titled Sarabjit Singh Grewal versus Sukhwinder Kaur Grewal and Civil Revision No. 7699 of 2009, titled Sukhwinder Kaur Grewal versus Sarabjit Singh Grewal, as both these revision petitions under Article 227 of the Constitution of India have been preferred against same order dated 14.10.2009 passed by learned Additional District Judge (Adhoc), Fast Track Court, Ludhiana on application under section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act filed by wife Sukhwinder Kaur Grewal for maintenance pendente lite and litigation expenses. Husband Sarabjit Singh Grewal has filed divorce petition against wife Sukhwinder Kaur Grewal. During pendency of the said petition Civil Revision No. 6402 of 2009 -2- wife moved application under section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act alleging that she has no source of income whereas the husband is owner of four acres agricultural land and is also running a dairy farm and having tractor trolley and also having rental income of Rs 10,000/-. Total income of the husband was alleged to be Rs 60,000/- per month. The husband in his reply, inter alia, pleaded that the wife is employed in factory in Canada, earning 480 Canadian Dollars per week and has no other liability of any kind whereas husband is unemployed having no income at all. Learned Additional District Judge vide impugned order dated 14.10.2009 directed the husband to pay Rs 2000/- per month as maintenance pendente lite to the wife from the date of her application and also to pay Rs 5000/- as litigation expenses. Feeling aggrieved, the husband has filed CR No.6402 of 2009 praying for dismissal of application moved by wife under section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act; whereas the wife has filed CR No. 7699 of 2009 for enhancement of the maintenance pendente lite and litigation expenses. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and perused the case file. Learned counsel for the husband referring to document Annexure P/4 in CR No. 6402 of 2009 contended that the wife is getting 390 Canadian Dollars per week as social security benefit out of which she has to pay 41 Canadian Dollars as Federal tax. It was also contended that the husband has no income of his own. Learned counsel for the wife contended that the husband has not denied the wife's allegations that he owns four acres land and has Civil Revision No. 6402 of 2009 -3- income as pleaded in the application. I have carefully considered the rival contentions. The wife is admittedly residing in Canada and she is contesting divorce petition at Ludhiana through her father as attorney. There is no material on record produced by the wife to depict the income of the husband. The contention that the husband has not denied the allegations of the wife in the application cannot be accepted because the husband has specifically stated that he is unemployed and has no source of income. He also alleged that the land is in the name of his father. Wife did not produce any revenue record to depict that there is any land standing in the name of husband himself. However, the husband is able bodied person and it can be presumed that he can earn at least Rs 4000/- per month which is an income of casual labourer. Thus keeping in view all this, it would be appropriate to direct the husband to pay Rs 1250/- per month only as maintenance pendente lite to the wife who is also getting social security benefit amount while residing in Canada. Litigation expenses of Rs 5000/- does not require any interference. For the reasons recorded herein above, CR No. 6402 of 2009 filed by the husband is accordingly allowed partly and impugned order dated 14.10.2009 passed by learned Additional District Judge (Adhoc), Fast Track Court, Ludhiana is modified and the husband is directed to pay maintenance pendente lite at the rate of Rs 1250/- per month to the wife with effect from date of her application in addition to Rs 5000/- as litigation expenses as directed by the lower court whereas CR No. 7699 of 2009 filed by the wife is dismissed. ( L.N. Mittal ) May 10, 2010 Judge 'dalbir'