CHANDIGARH: The Punjab and Haryana high court has ruled that a man must strive to earn more to pay maintenance to his wife, calling lack of sufficient income no shield against responsibility and holding that other liabilities cannot be a ground for denial of legally-entitled maintenance to his wife and children.“In case the petitioner is not able to earn the aforesaid amount, it is rather his duty to earn more, and after earning more, he has to maintain his children and wife under the provisions of law. Therefore, an argument raised by the petitioner with regard to the other liabilities that he is not able to pay the aforesaid amount cannot be accepted and is hereby rejected,” the high court has held.Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri of the high court passed the orders on a plea filed by a resident of Haryana‘s Rewari district. He challenged the order dated Feb 27 passed by additional principal judge, family court, Rewari, directing him to pay Rs 24,700 per month as interim maintenance to his wife and two children.The couple were married on Feb 22, 2014.The petitioner, a senior nurse in SMS Hospital, Jaipur, with a monthly income of Rs 57,606, informed the court that his wife withdrew has been living separately for around five years. He contended that he is not able to pay the maintenance, almost half of his monthly salary, as he also has to take care of his ailing mother and has liabilities like EMIs. He pleaded that the family court order be set aside or, in the alternative, the interim maintenance granted be reduced. The court held that the Rs 24,700 per month maintenance “cannot be said to be on the higher side by any stretch of imagination considering the inflationary tendencies and costs in ratio as of today”. “This court does not find any illegality or perversity in the impugned order and is also of the considered view that the amount of Rs 24,700 per month to the respondents is neither excessive nor erroneous,” the court held in its order released recently.
