New Delhi, Aug. 27: The Delhi High Court on Friday said that an unemployed man cannot be forced to pay maintenance to his estranged wife, after noting that in an era of gender equality, a person cannot be compelled to maintain others if spouses are on an equal footing.
Justice Shiv Narayan Dhingra said, “Under prevalent laws, a husband is supposed to maintain his jobless spouse out of the income he earns. No law provides that a husband has to maintain his wife, living separately from him, irrespective of the fact whether he earns or not.”
While setting aside the order of a family court, the court said, “The court cannot tell the husband that he should beg, borrow or steal but give maintenance to his wife, more so when the husband and wife are almost qualified and capable of earning and when both of them claim to be gainfully employed before marriage.”
Earlier, the family court had directed that the husband, who is unemployed, is supposed to pay a maintenance of `5,000 to his wife.
The court said that the wife, who is equally qualified as her husband and was working in an MNC, cannot ask for maintenance from her jobless husband.
While granting relief to the husband who was an NRI working in Angola in Africa, the court said, “Since both are on equal footing, one cannot be asked to maintain the other unless one is unemployed and the other is employed.”
The court also said that the Constitution provides equal treatment to all irrespective of sex, caste and creed. An unemployed husband who is holding an MBA degree cannot be treated differently to an unemployed wife who is also holding an MBA degree.
Filing a petition challenging the family court’s February 2008 order, Mr Sanjay Bhardwaj, an NRI, said he was working as a Sales Manager in Luanda, capital of Angola. He came to India for marriage with another MBA graduate in May 2007 and his married life had lasted only for three weeks.