Legal Question in Family Law in India

Re: Jurisdiction in Maintenance u/s 18 of hindu adoption & maintenance act, 1956

Since you have an Advocate assisting you already I think this question should be put to your Advocate and I'm sorry to refuse to answer this question.

Re: Jurisdiction in Maintenance u/s 18 of hindu adoption & maintenance act, 1956

Yes, you can challenge the jurisdiction of the court. Normally the respondent or defendant has to raise the objection questioning the jurisdiction of a court at the initial stage of he proceedings and the court has to decide the issue of jurisdiction as preliminary issue without waiting till the entire trial is over because if it were without jurisdiction the proceedings would be a nullity.

A suit for maintenance under Sec.18 of The Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956 is not a suit under any of the provisions of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. This being a suit of civil nature, the civil court has jurisdiction entertain and try the suit under Section 9 of Civil Procedure Code.

Such a suit can be instituted in

a. the court within whose jurisdiction the marriage was performed; or

b. the court within whose territorial limits the wife was abandoned or deserted; or

c. the court within whose jurisdiction the husband treated his wife with such cruelty as to cause a reasonable apprehension in her mind that it will be harmful or injurious to live with her husband.

A suit claiming a right of maintenance to be charged on immovable property has to be instituted in the court within whose jurisdiction such property is situated.

So you have to carefully study the pleadings of your wife and see if the suit has been institute in the proper court. If not, challenge the question of jurisdiction at the initial stage of the proceeding and make it a preliminary issue.

Re: Jurisdiction in Maintenance u/s 18 of hindu adoption & maintenance act, 1956

Dear Friend,

I am sorry, but as a matter of practise, we do not reply to queries from the persons, who do not give their complete details, nor to the persons not directly affected by the problem under the query. We also do not give any citations to the seekers.

Therefore we request you to send your query only through the query form at the Free legal advice pages of the vakilbabu website at http://www.vakilbabu.com quoting the reference LawGuru.com.

We believe you shall understand.

Warm regards

Satish Maheshwari.