The Supreme Court has directed all the Family Courts in the country to dispose of matrimonial disputes expeditiously and said the delay in adjudication by the Family Court was not only against human rights but also against the basic embodiment of dignity of an individual.
Giving this direction a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and V. Gopala Gowda said adjournments granted by the Family courts in an extremely liberal manner were against the objects and reasons of the Family Courts Act. It said inordinate delay in deciding the disputes by the Family Courts would amount to exhibiting absolute insensitivity to the condition of a wife, who, after loosing support of the husband had to wait for years to get her maintenance.
Writing the judgment Justice Misra said “delaying the adjudication and not awarding maintenance to the wife would not only defeat the command of the legislature but also frustrate the hope of wife and children who are deprived of adequate livelihood and whose aspirations perish like mushroom and possibly the brief candle of sustenance joins the marathon race of extinction. This delay in adjudication by the Family Court is not only against human rights but also against the basic embodiment of dignity of an individual. In a proceeding of this nature, the husband cannot take subterfuges to deprive her of the benefit of living with dignity.”
The Bench said “It has come to the notice of the Court that on certain occasions the Family Courts have been granting adjournments in a routine manner as a consequence of which both the parties suffer or, on certain occasions, the wife becomes the worst victim. When such a situation occurs, the purpose of the law gets totally atrophied. The Family Judge is expected to be sensitive to the issues, for he is dealing with extremely delicate and sensitive issues pertaining to the marriage and issues ancillary thereto. Dilatory tactics by any of the parties has to be sternly dealt with, for the Family Court Judge has to be alive to the fact that the lis before him pertains to emotional fragmentation and delay can feed it to grow. We hope and trust that the Family Court Judges shall remain alert to this and decide the matters as expeditiously as possible.
In this case the appellant Bhuwan Mohan Singh was asked by the Family court to pay maintenance to his wife from 2011 though the application was filed in 2002. The Rajasthan High Court reversed this order and directed him to pay maintenance from the date of application. In the present appeal, the Bench confirmed the High Court order and asked the appellant to pay arrears.
