Bench of Justice K. Murali Shankar observed that, “When deciding the amount of alimony in the subsequent proceeding, the court should consider the alimony awarded in the earlier proceeding and determine the alimony to be paid and a further instruction has been given to the following plaintiff to disclose about the prior support proceeding and the orders made therein.”
The Madras High Court on September 2 ruled that there is no ban or ban on bringing simultaneous maintenance proceedings under different laws.
Bench K. Murali Shankar observed that “while deciding the amount of maintenance in the subsequent proceeding, the court takes into account the maintenance awarded in the previous proceeding and determines the maintenance to be paid and a further instruction has been given to the next claimant to disclose the previous maintenance proceeding and orders issued thereunder. »
The Court heard a motion filed by the husband seeking the dismissal of the maintenance case filed by the wife.
The petitioner’s main contention was that the first respondent, after filing the Domestic Violence Act claim seeking alimony and other relief, had also concurrently filed a parallel claim for maintenance with the same set of allegations and cause of action by invoking Section 125 Cr.PC, which was superfluous and that the very pursuit of said proceedings under Section 125 Cr.PC against the Petitioner is nothing but illegal and constitutes an abuse of process.
The Court cited the Apex Court judgment in Rajnesh vs. Neha and others (2021) 2 SCC 324 where it was judged that “56. It is well established that a woman can seek maintenance under different laws. For example, there is no prohibition on seeking spousal support under the DV Act and Section 125 of the Cr.PC, or under the HMA. It would, however, be inequitable to order the husband to pay maintenance under each of the proceedings, independently of the relief granted in an earlier proceeding. If alimony is awarded to the wife in a previously initiated proceeding, she is legally required to disclose it in a subsequent alimony proceeding, which may be filed under another law. When deciding the amount of maintenance in subsequent proceedings, the Civil Court/Family Court shall take into account the maintenance awarded in any proceedings previously instituted and determine the maintenance due to the plaintiff.”
The Court therefore dismissed the present motion.
