NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has held that the strict proof of marriage is not necessary for a woman to claim maintenance from her husband on separation.
Setting aside the judgment of the Karnataka High Court on 16.06.2009, the Bench of Justices Mrs R Banumathi and Ms Indira Banerjee early this week held that once the family court had held that there was a valid marriage, the High Court has no power to reassess the evidence and substitute its views on findings of fact.
It held that the High Court ought not to have interfered with the family court’s finding on th existence of valid marriage and ordered the husband to pay the maintenance arrears of Rs 2,500 per month each to his wife and two children as directed by the Mysore family court within two months and continue to pay the same on or before 10th of every English calendar year. The Bench also gave liberty to wife and children to move the family court for enhancing the maintenance.
The High Court had set aside the family court order on the ground that the wife was unable to prove that she is the legally wedded wife of the person nor could she produce any evidence that the marriage was solemnised as per custom to be entitled for any maintenance.
The Apex Court accepted the submission of the wife’s counsel that when the parties live as husband and wife under
one roof, a presumption arises in favour of the person who asserts the existence of valid marriage. The court note that the two had entered into a wedlock in a temple and lived together and begot two children which gives presumption in favour of the wife which the husband could not rebut.
It held that the family court had rightly presumed a valid marriage on the basis of the wife’s evidence coupled with the birth certificates of their two children and the evidences of the landlord and a co-worker.
