Legal Question in Family Law in India

the wife is within limitation in filing the case under DV act. the maintainance depends upon a lot of factors. so put up your defence stating your income and liablity and let the court decide the issue.

Earlier the time limit for filing a DV case was unclear. The Supreme Court has stated in this regard that there is a time limit of 1 year for filing DV case. if it is filed after a period of one year, you may approach the Court to dismiss them on the grounds of non-maintainability. The Delhi High Court has held that the domestic relationship between the aggrieved person and the respondent/s must be present(i.e current) and alive at the time when complaint under Domestic Violence Act is filed and if this relationship is not alive on the date when complaint is filed, the domestic relationship cannot be said to be there. In your case, she has filed a DV case without any domestic relationship existing at that time, so you may refer to the above cases.

The quantum of maintenance allowance is required to be fixed after considering the status of both the parties, income of the spouses, earning capacity of the husband, his liabilities, basic needs of the wife and other relevant circumstances. There is no fixed share as such and the Court looks into a number of factors before awarding an amount as maintenance to the wife and the child.

In Smt. Veena Panda vs Devendra Kishore Panda case, the Allahabad High Court explained the criteria over which the maintenance is divided from the income of the husband. In this case it was held that no rigid formula about percentage of income can be fixed for giving maintenance. The quantum depends upon the status and income of the parties. The following principles were found to be relevant for the purpose:

(1) Position and status of the parties.

(2) Reasonable wants of the claimant towards food, clothing, shelter, medical attendance with treatment, education and the like.

(3) Income of the claimant.

(4) Income of the opposite party.

(5) Number of persons the opposite party is obliged to maintain.

(6) The amount required by the wife to live a similar life style as she enjoyed in the matrimonial home keeping in view food, clothing, shelter, educational and medical needs of the wife and the children, if any, residing with the wife and

(7) Payment capacity of the husband. You may produce relevant documents in support of the same.

You should get an expert lawyer to assist you through the case. You can call me at 09555 507 507 or send me a mail at [email protected]

-Regards

Advocate Pooja

www.lawkonect.com