Swati Kaushik v Ashwani Sharma, MANU/DE/0611/2019
The wife filed an application u/s 12 of the DV Act against her husband for maintenance. The husband did not pay up the maintenance and so the wife filed an application for striking off his defence. The magistrate dismissed this and the wife filed an appeal in the High Court. The Delhi High Court directed the employer of the husband to deduct Rs.50,000/- p.m. from his salary and pay directly to the wife, as arrears of maintenance. It held that disobedience of court’s order can be taken into account as a ground to strike off of the defence and no hyper technical approach is to be adopted in such matters. Failure of husband to clear the arrears of maintenance order, justifies striking off the defence of the husband.