In a divorce matter before the Bombay High Court (BHC) Justice Roshan Dalvi ordered a husband to pay his wife Rs 50,000 as compensation for suffering loss of income incurred by her while regularly attending court proceedings, while he remained absent time and again. The Times of India (TOI) of June 29, 2013 reported that the couple married in 2008 and separated a year later. The Family Court (FC) in Poona directed the husband to pay the wife Rs 15,000 per month as interim maintenance, pending the divorce. He applied to the BHC to restore his appeal against this direction of the FC. On February 8, 2013, Dalvi noted he and his advocate were absent and dismissed the appeal after hearing the wife’s plea and checking the documents she produced. She contended that the FC’s order did not deserve interference as it had correctly considered the husband’s lifestyle and asked him to pay a low maintenance amount to his wife who was a junior advocate practicing in Poona.
Justice Roshan Dalvi: compensation for loss of income
When the application came up for hearing in the BHC on June 14, 2013, Dalvi queried the husband’s advocate about his client’s absence. The judge noted that the wife traveled to Bombay regularly for the hearings, which caused her to suffer a loss of income from her practice. She ordered the husband to pay Rs 50,000 as "appearance costs” to his wife within two weeks before the matter could proceed, reported TOI. When his advocate asked the BHC to reduce the amount, Dalvi countered: "How much do lawyers earn? According to you she (the wife) has a flourishing practice and earns a million. She has to come from Poona every time while you stay away… Consequent upon such practice, requiring her to come again and again to this court would entail commensurate loss of practice,” reported TOI.