Nagendrappa Natikar v. Neelamma (SC) BS418739
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Before:- K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra, JJ.

Special Leave Petition (Civil) No. 11800 of 2013 (Arising out of C.C. No. 1297 of 2012). D/d. 15.3.2013.

Nagendrappa Natikar - Petitioner

Versus

Neelamma - Respondent

For the Petitioners :- Raja Venkatappa Naik, Raja Raghavendra Naik, S.K. Tandon, S.K. Gupta and Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, Advocates.

IMPORTANT

Wife accepting permanent alimony under Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code - Despite this wife is entitled to claim maintenance under Section 18 of Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act.

Criminal Procedure Code, Section 125 - Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956, Section 18 - Civil Procedure Code, Order 23 Rule 3 - Wife accepting permanent alimony under Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code - Respite this wife is entitled to claim maintenance under Section 18 of Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act.

ON FACTS :-

[Paras 9, 10 and 11]

JUDGMENT

K.S. Radhakrishnan, J. - Delay condoned.

2. The question that is raised for consideration in this case is whether a compromise entered into by husband and wife under Order 23 Rule 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure (CPC), agreeing for a consolidated amount towards permanent alimony, thereby giving up any future claim for maintenance, accepted by the Court in a proceeding under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Criminal Procedure Code), would preclude the wife from claiming maintenance in a suit filed under Section 18 of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 (for short "the Act).

3. The marriage between the petitioner (husband) and respondent (wife) took place on 24.5.1987. Alleging that the petitioner is not maintaining his wife, respondent filed an application under Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code for grant of maintenance before the 1st Additional JMFC at Gulbarga, being Misc. Case No. 234 of 1992. While the matter was pending, an application was preferred by the parties under Order 23 Rule 3 Civil Procedure Code on 3.9.1994 stating that the parties had arrived at a compromise, by which the respondent had agreed to receive an amount of L 8,000/- towards permanent alimony and that she would not make any claim for maintenance in future or enhancement of maintenance. Consent letter dated 30.3.1990, which is in Kannada, the English translation of the same reads as follow:

Signature of Executant

Neelamma

(Signed in Kannada)

The Court, on the same day, passed the following order :

4. Respondent wife then filed a Misc. Application No. 34 of 2003 under Section 127 Criminal Procedure Code before the Family Court, Gulbarga for cancellation of the earlier order and also for awarding future maintenance, which was resisted by the petitioner stating that the parties had already reached a compromise with regard to the claim for maintenance on 3.9.1994 and hence the application for cancellation of the earlier order is not maintainable. The Court accepted the plea of the husband and took the view that since such an order was still in force and not set aside by a competent Court, it would not be possible to entertain an application under Section 127 Criminal Procedure Code. The application was, therefore, dismissed on 31.7.2006.

5. We notice, while the application under Section 127 Criminal Procedure Code was pending, respondent wife filed O.S. No. 10 of 2005 before the Family Court, Gulbarga under Section 18 of the Act claiming maintenance at the rate of L 2,000/- per month. The claim was resisted by the petitioner husband contending that, in view of the compromise reached between the parties in Misc. Case No. 234 of 1992 filed under Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code, respondent could not claim any monthly maintenance and hence the suit filed under Section 18 of the Act was not maintainable. The question of maintainability was raised as a preliminary issue. The Family Court held by its order dated 15.9.2009 that the compromise entered into between the parties in a proceeding under Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code would not be bar in entertaining a suit under Section 18 of the Act.

6. The suit was then finally heard on 30.9.2010 and the Family Court decreed the suit holding that the respondent is entitled to monthly maintenance of L 2,000/- per month from the defendant husband from the date of the filing of the suit.

7. Aggrieved by the said order, petitioner took up the matter before the High Court by filing an appeal, being M.F.A. No. 31979 of 2010, which was dismissed by the High Court by its judgment dated 28.3.2011, against which this SLP has been preferred.

8. Shri Raja Venkatappa Naik, learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, husband, submitted that suit filed under Section 18 of the Act is not maintainable, in view of the order dated 3.9.1994, accepting the consent terms and ordering a consolidated amount towards maintenance under Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code.

9. We are in complete agreement with the reasoning of the Family Court and confirmed by the High Court that the suit under Section 18 of the Act is perfectly maintainable, in spite of the compromise reached between the parties under Order 23 Rule 3 C.P.C. and accepted by the Court in its order dated 3.9.1994.

10. Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code is a piece of social legislation which provides for a summary and speedy relief by way of maintenance to a wife who is unable to maintain herself and her children. Section 125 is not intended to provide for a full and final determination of the status and personal rights of parties, which is in the nature of a civil proceeding, though are governed by the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code and the order made under Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code is tentative and is subject to final determination of the rights in a civil court.

11. Section 25 of the Contract Act provides that any agreement which is opposed to public policy is not enforceable in a Court of Law and such an agreement is void, since the object is unlawful. Proceeding under Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code is summary in nature and intended to provide a speedy remedy to the wife and any order passed under Section 125 Criminal Procedure Code by compromise or otherwise cannot foreclose the remedy available to a wife under Section 18(2) of the Act.

12. The above being the legal position, we find no error in the view taken by the Family Court, which has been affirmed by the High Court. The Petition is, therefore, dismissed in limine.

Petition dismissed.