Maintenance a right even if wife agrees to waive it: HC

MUMBAI: In a vital order, the Bombay high court docket held that a girl's right to upkeep cannot be executed away with despite the fact that she had particularly waived it in an previous agreement. In a recent judgment, Justice MS Sonak mentioned, "There are several rulings taking the view that an agreement, in which the wife gives up or relinquishes her right to claim maintenance at any time in the future, is opposed to public policy and, therefore, such an agreement, even if voluntarily entered, is not enforceable." The HC in its judgment cited observations of every other such ruling, which mentioned the statutory right of a wife for upkeep cannot be bartered, executed away with or negated by way of the husband by way of putting in place an agreement to the contrary.

In the judgment, the HC dimissed the writ petition submitted by way of guy who mentioned his former wife's utility in quest of upkeep be pushed aside since she had waived her right to it in the consent terms for divorce. The girl had moved the maintenance plea ahead of a Justice of the Peace court docket in 2010. The guy sought a dimissal of the plea and cited the consent terms.