Wife can seek maintenance on behalf of major child: Bombay HC
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court has held that an estranged wife can seek maintenance from her husband for and on behalf of her major daughter or son so long as the child is dependent on her.
"A daughter may have attained majority but so long as she is unmarried and dependent on mother, she is entitled to maintenance from her father's earnings," ruled Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice R Y Ganoo.
The ruling was delivered on August 26 on an appeal filed by Vijaykumar Chawla, a businessman, against a family court order which ordered him to pay Rs 40,000 per month to his daughter, Shraddha, who was staying with her mother and undergoing a pilot's training course.
According to the provisions of Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, a child can claim maintenance from his father or mother so long as he or she is minor. However, section 20(3) is an exception which obligates a person to maintain his or her daughter who is unmarried and unable to maintain herself out of her earnings or property, the bench ruled.
"In the present case, it is not in dispute that Shraddha is residing with her mother. She is unmarried. Her mother has no earnings or other property except the income by way of meager salary earned by her. She is thus not in a position to take the burden of education expenditure of her daughter which is quite substantial for undergoing the professional course," the bench observed.
