A woman has the right to know the remuneration of her husband, the Madhya Pradesh High Court has observed.
A High Court Bench of Justices S.K. Seth and Nandita Dubey made the observation while hearing the petition of Sunita Jain who had sought a higher maintenance amount from her estranged husband, claiming that he was a senior officer with the State-run BSNL.
Petitioner’s counsel K.C. Ghildiyal said Ms. Jain had pleaded that her estranged husband Pawan Kumar Jain was drawing a high salary while she was being given a monthly maintenance of just ₹7,000.
After a trial court rejected Ms. Jain’s plea that her husband produce his pay slip, she had filed a Right to Information application to get his salary details.
The issue reached the Central Information Commission, which, in an order dated July 27, 2007, asked the BSNL Central Public Information Officer to furnish the required details, Mr. Ghildiyal said.
Mr. Jain, however, challenged the CIC order before a Single Bench of the M.P. High Court which set aside the CIC order in March 2015.
Mr. Ghildiyal said Ms. Jain then moved the Double Bench of the High Court which observed that a wife was entitled to know the remuneration of her husband.
The HC Bench stated that the wife couldn’t be denied this information by considering her a third party. While setting aside the Single Bench order, the Double Bench, in an order on May 15, allowed the writ appeal and upheld the CIC order.
