maintainance under hindu law

1. Maintenance under Hindu adoption and maintenance act
Under Hindu Adoption and maintenance act 1956, only wife, widowed mother-in-
law, parents and children will get maintenance. Maintenance means the provisions
for food, clothing, shelter education and medical expenses. In caseof the
unmarried girl it will also include the expenses for the marriage. The basis of the
maintenance law is to provide livelihood to those who are not capable to get it.
These are two types of obligation s to provide maintenance:-
 Personal liability: This obligation arises by virtue of relationship between
two persons. It is not dependent on acquisition of any property by the Hindu.
 Limited liability: This obligation is not depend on any relationship between
the parties but it is contingent on the devolution of property to the person.
Section 18 of Hindu Adoption and Maintenance act covers the right of a Hindu
Wife to get the maintenance. Sub-section 1 of this section contains the personal
obligation of the male Hindu to maintain his wife during her lifetime.
Subsection 2 is covering the right of the Hindu wife to live separately and claim
maintenance from her husband. The general rule is that the wife can get the
maintenance from her husband if she is living with her husband. But subsection is
exception to this rule. If the following grounds are present she will have the right
to live separate and can claim maintenance:-
 If the husband is guilty of desertion;
 He has treated the wife with such a cruelty that there is reasonable
apprehension that it is harmful to live with her husband;
 He has been suffering from virulent form of leprosy;
 He has other living wife;
 He keeps a concubine in same house in which wife is living or habitually
resides with concubine elsewhere;
 If he ceases to be a Hindu , here it means it get converted to non-Hindu
religion i.e. Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew;
 If there are any other justifying reasons, this clause gives spaceto judicial
interpretations of the term justifying reason.

2. Sub-Section 3 is covering the disqualifications of the wife to claim her
maintenance right:-
 She turns to be a unchaste;
 Conversion to non-Hindu religion.
Udayanath vs. Siridei 1973 Ori 196
The obligation of the husband to maintain his wife doesn’tarise out of any
contract, express or implied, but out of the status of marriage, out of jural
relationship of husband and wife created by the performance of the marriage.
Parami vs. Mahadevi (1909) 34 Bom 278
Obligation of the husband to maintain his wife begins with the marriage. It is
irrespective of the fact whether he has or has no property.
Lisram vs. Sakhidevi AIR 1965 Manipur 49
Means and capacity of a person against whom the award has to be made is very
important. In fact, in case of Husband it is not only the actual earning capacity
which must be considered. There is a presumption that every able bodied person
has a capacity to earn and maintain his wife.
Atar Singh vs. Jasoda (2000) All HC 4465
Court held that even if the husband has no income when he is given in marriage it
is presumed that the family has sufficient income to supporthim and his wife. In
this case, the sonwho was a student belonged to mitakshara family. Where a son
becomes a coparcener and gets right in coparcenary property as coparcener, so this
share is considered to calculate the sufficiency of the husband to maintenance the
wife.
No maintenanceto the wifewhen marriageisvoid
Suresh Khullar vs. Vijay Khullar AIR 20023 Del 373
Husband married wife M in 1980. On his application marriage was dissolved by an
ex-parte decree in 1984. Thereafter he married petitioner in 1988. M filed an
application for maintenance under section 18 of HAMA. She alleged that husband
has played a fraud on her by misrepresenting the facts and also she is treated with

3. mental and physical cruelty. The court declared that marriage of the petitioner
second wife was void as the husband’s first marriage is still subsisting and
therefore she is having no right to claim maintenance.
Can an arrangementto liveseparatelybe treated as divorce deed
Bouramma vs. SiddappaJeevappa Patarad AIR 2003 Kant 342
A wife filed an application for maintenance under section 18 of Hindu Adoption
and Maintenance act. Parties were married in 1966 and the claim was made by the
wife in 1995. She claimed the pastmaintenance also.
She pleaded desertion and alleged that the husband had another wife and they both
ill treat her and threw her out. Husband resisted the application on ground that
“they have arrangement to live separately” and claim of maintenance is sustainable
if the marriage is still subsisting.
Kant High Court held that:- Second wife itself is desertion of the first wife. No
further proof of desertion is required. Beside an arrangement to live separately
even assuming that it is proved, could not have the effect of bringing marriage to
end. In this situation she is held entitled to have maintenance.
Desertion
Section 18(2)(a) provides desertion as a ground in which wife can claim separate
residence as well as maintenance.
Purushottam Kewalia vs. Smt. Devki AIR 1973 Raj 3
It was laid down that the offence of desertion commences when the fact of
separation and animus deserendi co exist but it is not necessary that they should
commence at the same time.
Rai vs. Ramniga Naik AIR 1954 Mad 54
Where a husband brings a prostitute in the house in which his wife is living and as
a consequencethe wife has to leave the house, the husband is guilty of desertion.
Cruelty
For succeeding the claim of cruelty, the wife must prove two distinct elements:-

4.  First, ill treatment complained of
 Second, the result and danger of apprehension thereof;
Swajyam Prabha vs. A.S. Chandar Sekhar AIR 1982 Kant 295
It was held that baseless allegations about adultery would constitute mental cruelty
to the wife, so that cruelty is a solid ground for claiming maintenance and separate
residence. It is well settled principle of law that leveling allegations of adultery
without properfoundation and basis would tantamount to perpetrating mental
cruelty on the other spouse.
Ram Devi vs. Raja Ram AIR 1963 All 564
Husband by his conductmade it evidently clear that she was not wanted in the
house and her presence was resented by him, it was held that this amounted to
cruelty and justified wife’s living separately.
Leprosy
No time period is prescribed, but existing at the time when the claim for
maintenance is made.
Sivaraya vs. C.C. Padma Rao (1974)1SCJ 79
A mild type of leprosy which is capable of treatment cannot be called virulent
leprosy which is malignant and contiguous and in which prognosis is usually
grave.
Havinganother Wife
C. Obula Konda Reddyvs. C. PeddaVenkata AIR 1976 AP 47
Initial view was second wife is entitled to claim maintenance under this provision.
But this verdict was overruled in
Laxmi Bai vs. Ayodhya Prasad
Earlier decision was overruled and held that second wife is not entitled to
maintenance under this section. Since after the coming into effect of Hindu

5. Marriage Act, the Bigamous marriage is prohibited. Second marriage being void
and wife cannot claim maintenance.
Avtar Singh vs. JasbirSingh Laws (P & H) 2014-2-246
Smt. Harbans Kaur W/O Jharmal Singh having two minor sons Jasbir Singh and
Kulbir Singh claimed 1/4th share in the land belonging to the family, as she was the
wife of an unsound person. The Punjab and Haryana high Court held that:- No
provisions has been mentioned for the maintenance to the wife if the husband is of
the unsound mind, the daughter-in-law who is not having any source of
maintenance can claim maintenance for herself.
The court held that despite of no availability of any provision regarding the
maintenance to such wife the share must be given to her in order to make her
capable to maintain herself, her husband and two sons.
On the basis of this judgment the Law Commission of India revisited the Section
18 . Law Commission of India Reportno. 252 “ Right of Hindu Wife to
maintenance” is made in Jan 2015.
They have proposed section 18(4) :- Where the husband is unable to provide for
his wife, on account of physical disability, mental disorder, disappearance
renunciation of the world by entering any religious order or other similar reasons,
the Hindu wife is entitled to claim maintenance during her lifetime from members
of joint Hindu family of the husband except where the husband has received his
share in joint family property.