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Rajinder (Asstt.Executive Engineer)     21 October 2012

Divorce decree of lok adalat

 

Respected Sr.Lawyers, 

I got married in Feb 1995,out of the wedlock two children a girl and a boy were born.I am working as Sr.civil Engineer in Govt deptt.and of 48 years old.

Due to unavoidable circumstances marriage could not last despite my best efforts .She is working in a govt deptt. as Science teacher.

I filed a petition U/S 13 HM act in Matrimonial court for divorce after her final desertion from the matrimonial home, leaving behind daughter age 5.5 years and son age 3.5 years with me and my ailing aged mother in 4/2002.

During the pendency of petition in Matrimonial court u/s 13 filed by me in 6/2002, and after the reconciliation efforts failed, she approached me in January 2004 ,and proposed for moving a joint petition u/s 15 HM act for mutual consent with some of her conditions viz. alimony ,property and custody of the children. On this a lawyer was consulted of her choice and a joint petition submitted in the court of distt. judge matrimonial ,who after examining both the petitioners, recorded statements in the court. Wife wanted the distt court to refer the case to Lok Adalat for immediate settlement as she wanted money/alimony and property. On the joint request of both ,the hon`ble judge after recording the statements on 21-1-2004 ,referred the case to Lok adalat,

The case was listed on 27-1-2004 before the Lok Adalat comprising of the three judges of the rank of Principal and Session Judge and two other distt judges.

       Statements of both the parties recorded in the Lok Adalat,wife received alimony of Rs.4.00 lacs before the Lok adalat, share in my house, Did not prefer the custody of two minor children .Alimony was paid by me in cash before the court and possession taken of her share in the house.
    Order was passed by the court and decree of divorce by mutual consent awarded. .children to remain under care and custody of father only ordered by the court as mother had refused custody.

AFTER ABOUT ONE MONTH OF PASSING OF DECREE OF DIVORCE AND ATTAINING THE FINALITY i.e on 21-2-2204, SHE WITHDRAWS HER PETITIONFILED BY UNDER SECTION 7-WARDS AND GUARDIANS ACT IN THE DISTT.MATRIMONIAL COURT STATING THAT THE MARRIAGE HAS BEEN DISSOLVED BY DECREE OF DIVORCE BY MUTUAL CONSENT BY THE LOK ADALAT,AND CHILDREN SHALL REMAIN IN THE CARE AND CUSTODY OF THE FATHER AS SUCH PETITION FILED BY HER U/S 7 MAY BE WITHDRAWN, DISTT JUDGE MATRIMONIAL AFTER RECORDING THE STATEMENT PASSED THE ORDER FOR WITHDRAWL OF PETITION U/S 7 BY HER AND SIMILARILY PETITION FILED BY ME UNDER SECTION 13 HMA  WAS WITHDRAWN ON MY REQUEST.

    After the settlement ,taking alimony ,share, etc. having  an after thought plan after 5-6months, filed a petition in Hon`ble High court against the Lok adalat decision.(taking one of the plea of six months waiting period ),whereas she herself had requested the matrimonial court to refer the matter to LOK ADALAT for speedy disposal (statements recorded in the court).

    The writ/appeal was admitted in the High court and the decree awarded by the Lok adalat stayed on 8th.Oct 2004.And again the sinle judge after hearing the case in Oct 2005,passed the judgement after one year i.e in on 30th Oct 2006,and allowed the appeal/writ and refered back the matter to matrimonial court.

Agrieved by the decision of the Sinle Judge of Hon`ble High Court, I filed an appeal(LPA) before the division bench of Hon`ble High court in Nov.2006. Division bench of Hon`ble High Court deliverd its judgement in my favour, thus dissmissing the writ petition and held that
     "It was contended that the public policy of giving an opportunity to rethink, as contained in sub-section 2 of Section 15 of the Jammu and Kashmir Hindu Marriage Act, 1980, would be defeated if the decree passed by Lok Adalat is not interfered with. It is true that sub25 section 2 of Section 15 of the Act contains a public policy hereby and under it grants time of at least six months to the parties to rethink the consent given by  them for dissolution of their marriage, but a person,who did not wait for the time given for such rethinking, cannot be permitted to turn around and contend that he should be permitted to rethink after having had concluded the matter at his/her own volition.
      It was contended that the said decree was obtained by fraud, coercion and intimidation. There was no scope to prove the same in a writ petition. For that, it was obligatory on the part of the petitioner respondent to approach Lok Adalat”.
  “ For the reasons as above, we set aside the judgment and order under appeal and dismiss the writ petition."
     After this my ex-wife filed SLP in the Hon`ble Supreme court. and the case has been listed for more than 10 times and next date was fixed for 3rd October 2012 for final hearing.   

       i. We are staying separately for the last more than10 years.(Since april 2002)
      ii.  Both the children are with me ,as  I am the sole guardian as directed           

          by the court. They are with me since 4/2002 and never been to        

          mother. produced in the court before division bench and they refused   

         to   go with the mother. 

 

 After such a long legal battle of more than 10 years, the Hon`ble supreme court adjourned the matter for one year on the plea that a similar petition has been referred to a larger bench to decide whether the lok adalat has the jurisdiction to pass the decree of divorce and the said petition is pending since 2004 and has not been taken up by the full bench till date.

Life has become very miserable  as the children are worst sufferer as they are now in the age of 16 and 14, 

Kindly advice me in the matter , can a request be made to the Hon`ble Chief Justice of India for early constitution of the full bench i the larger interest/career of my children?

PLEASE HELP ME.

with regards

 

 
 

 

 

 
       

 

 

                                                                                  



Learning

 3 Replies

Tajobsindia (Senior Partner )     22 October 2012

1. Actually Hon'ble SC is right in referring matter to larger Bench as same is really pending.
2. Now my point here is since 2002 the children are with you and today are of 14/16 yrs. so in what way mother has disturbed children as nothing of those sorts mentioned in your large brief? This is just a minor point I raised.
3. However there is no harm mentioning the children’s best interest to same Bench but then every mentioning also costs legal fees so where disturbance of children stands and then act accordingly!

 

1 Like

Rajinder (Asstt.Executive Engineer)     22 October 2012

thanks ,

since I m fighting the legal battle for the last more than 10 years for no fault of mine , and i have been running from pillar to post to get justice, and in this legal battle a lot of money is being spent,and due to mental agony children are obviously being affected , as i hv been looking after my both teenage children,aged ailing mother beside performing my official duties as a responsible government officer, which is going  very difficult in these circumstances.their education/career is also related to peaceful life.

hope u wl understand my situation.

in view of the above mentioned conduct of my ex wife kindly advice me ,hw to  get rid of this difficult situation.

regards

Rajinder (Asstt.Executive Engineer)     26 October 2012

my main question is whether can make a request to the Hon`ble Chief Justice for tagging my case with the one which has been referred to Larger Bench and is pending since 2004, and early listing of matter in the larger interest of my children?


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