Delhi High Court rules that an earning wife is entitled to maintenance if her income is insufficient, enhancing monthly support to Rs 1.5 lakh to ensure lifestyle parity.
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NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court has clarified that an earning wife is entitled to claim maintenance from her husband if her income is insufficient to maintain the same standard of living she enjoyed during the marriage. This judgment reinforces the principle that financial disparity between spouses must be a key factor in determining maintenance claims.
Case Background
The case arose from a Family Court order that denied maintenance to an Assistant Professor while granting only Rs. 35,000 per month for her minor daughter. The couple, married on November 22, 2013, has a daughter born in 2016 and has been living separately since October 2019 due to matrimonial discord.
The husband, a Senior Computer Scientist working with a US-based tech company, earns a substantially higher income than the wife. Despite the wife’s employment and her monthly income of around Rs. 1,25,000, the Family Court had denied her maintenance, prompting her to appeal to the Delhi High Court.
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Arguments Presented
Appellant-Wife’s Argument:
The wife argued that the Family Court ignored the “stark financial disparity” between the parties. While her income was modest, her husband earned over Rs. 10 lakhs per month, with additional perks and RSUs. She contended that she was entitled to maintain the same standard of living she had during the marriage, and that the maintenance awarded for the child was inadequate.
Respondent-Husband’s Argument:
The husband argued that the wife was capable of earning and therefore not entitled to maintenance, citing past High Court decisions where maintenance was denied to earning spouses. He emphasized that he had already been providing substantial support for the child.
High Court’s Analysis
The Delhi High Court, in a Division Bench judgment by Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Renu Bhatnagar, disagreed with the Family Court. Justice Bhatnagar noted,
“In assessing a claim under Section 24 of the HMA, the determinative test is not merely whether the wife is employed or capable of earning, but whether her income is sufficient to enable her to maintain the same standard of living as she was accustomed to during cohabitation.”
The Court highlighted the “stark” financial disparity, pointing out that the husband earned nearly ten times the income of the wife. Citing Supreme Court precedents such as Chaturbhuj v. Sita Bai (2008) and Rajnesh v. Neha (2021), the Court reaffirmed that the purpose of maintenance is to ensure fairness and parity in lifestyle:
“The very purpose of interim maintenance is to strike a fair balance and ensure parity in lifestyle, so that the financially weaker spouse and the child are not prejudiced by the economic advantage of the other.”
The Court emphasized that the wife’s earnings, while respectable, were not sufficient to match the husband’s economic scale and diversity of income.
The Decision:
The Delhi High Court enhanced the total maintenance for the wife and minor daughter to Rs. 1,50,000 per month, up from the Family Court’s Rs. 35,000, while retaining the earlier direction for the husband to cover school-related expenses. The Court made it clear that an earning spouse is not automatically barred from maintenance claims; the key factor is whether the income suffices to maintain the lifestyle enjoyed during marriage.
Case Title:
Smt Shikha Badhani vs Shri Hemant Badhani
MAT.APP.(F.C.) 252/2024 & CM APPL. 45186/2024
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