A daughter-in-law cannot seek a maintenance allownce from her mother-in-law as such a liability is fixed upon only the husband, or in exceptional circumstances on the father-in-law, the Supreme Court has said.
"A property in the name of the mother-in-law can neither be a subject matter of attachment nor during the life time of the husband his personal liability to maintain his wife can be directed to be enforced against such property," the apex court said.

A bench of Justices S B Sinha and V S Sirpurkar quashed the orders of a Gujarat magistrate who had ordered the auctioning of the properties of an old woman Vimlaben Ajitbhai Patel for paying a maintenance allowance to her daughter-in-law Sonalben Rameshchandra Desai.

Sonalben, after a discord with her husband Jitendra Ajitbhai Patel in 1993, had filed a number of criminal cases against him and his parents.

Though a magistrate while granting bail in one of the cases had restrained Jitendra and his parents from leaving the country, the trio left for the US for the medical treatment of his father Ajitbhai Revandas Patel.

On an application moved by Sonalben, the Magistrate declared Jitendra and his parents "proclaimed offenders." Under Section 85 of the CrPC their property was attached and auctioned by the authorities on the court orders. PTI

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