The Delhi High Court recently ruled that a divorced daughter cannot claim maintenance from her maternal side (mother or brother) under the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act (HAMA).
The division bench of Justice Suresh Kumar Kait and Justice Neena Bansal Sharma observed that there were 9 categories of dependents under Section 21 of the HAMA, a divorced daughter is not among any of those categories.
The Court said in its order, \”An unmarried or widowed daughter is recognized to have a claim in the estate of the deceased, but a “divorced daughter” does not feature in the category of dependents entitled to maintenance.\”
The Court further noted that a divorced woman can claim maintenance from her husband; not only at the time of divorce but even after divorce also. However, in this present case, the woman claimed that should was not able to trace her husband.
The Court responded that even if she couldn\’t trace her husband, it still couldn\’t order her mother and brother to pay maintenance to her.
The Court said, \”However difficult situation as it may be, but under the HAMA as she is not a “dependent” as defined under the Act and thus not entitled to claim maintenance from her mother and brother.\”
The Court made such observations while hearing a woman\’s plea challenging a trial court order rejecting her petition filed under Section 22 (dealing with maintenance of dependents) of the HAMA.
The woman had got married in 1995 to a man who later deserted her and went to the United States of America. She was got an ex parte divorce in 2001.
The woman also told the High Court that she was being paid ₹45,000 per month as maintenance by her maternal family till November 2014 on an assurance of the woman that she would not press for her share in property bequeathed by her father to her as well as her sister.
When the payments were stopped, she said that she had been facing a massive financial crisis.
The Court noted that the woman\’s father had left nine acres of land to her and her sister in his will. However, her maternal family (including her) sold the land in 2001 and shared the selling amount amount among them, the Court was told.
The Court also found that the mother and brother of the woman had earlier voluntarily given her Rs. 45,000 per month to support her financially till 2014.
After finding that the mother and brother of the woman had no statutory obligation to provide her maintenance, the High Court ended the proceeding by dismissing the woman\’s appeal. The Court further opined that the family court had rightly held that the woman was not entitled to claim any maintenance under HAMA.
Advocates Kapil Arora, Prashanti Bhatt, and Manjula Baxla appeared for the respondents. While, the appellant- woman appeared in person.
News Source: barandbench.com/news/delhi-high-court-divorced-daughter-hindu-adoption-and-maintenance-act
