Father’s Bid To Revisit Child’s Rs 15,000 Maintenance Fails As Madras HC Upholds Rejection, Citing No Later Change Shown

The petitioner was ordered to pay his minor son maintenance of ₹8,000 per month by the VI Additional Family Court, Chennai, on 15 April 2023. On the child’s revision, the High Court enhanced the amount to ₹15,000 per month on 30 April 2024.

The petitioner later filed an application seeking modification of the maintenance order and sought condonation of a 98-day delay in representing that application. The Family Court dismissed the delay-condonation application, reasoning that the High Court had already considered and enhanced the maintenance. The petitioner challenged that dismissal in this revision.

Section 127(1) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, corresponding to Section 146(1) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, empowers the competent court to alter a maintenance allowance upon proof of a change in the circumstances of the person receiving or paying it.

That power is not a means to reopen issues already decided in the absence of a subsequent change in circumstances.

The Court also referred to Section 125 CrPC’s purpose of preventing destitution and providing maintenance to an eligible wife or child.

The High Court had enhanced maintenance to ₹15,000 per month after considering the circumstances in the earlier revision. The petitioner produced no convincing material showing a substantial change in circumstances after that decision; nor did he identify a specific subsequent circumstance warranting reduction.

Although the immediate application concerned condonation of delay, the proposed modification sought to revisit the same maintenance determination. The Court therefore held that the Family Court was entitled to take account of the prior enhancement and found no basis to interfere with its order.

It also considered that reopening the amount without a demonstrated change could prejudice the minor child.

The petitioner was directed to continue paying maintenance of ₹15,000 per month in accordance with the High Court’s order dated 30 April 2024; there was no order as to costs, and the connected petition was closed.