Husband Can Challenge ₹8,000 Interim Maintenance For Wife Only By Revision, Not Appeal: Madras HC

In brief

The question

Whether an appeal under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act is maintainable against a Family Court order granting interim maintenance under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act

The court held

The Court held that the appeal was not maintainable and disposed of it, granting the appellant liberty to challenge the Family Court’s order by filing a revision petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India.

It also directed

The appellant was directed to work out the remedy concerning the deposit before the Revision Court.

No costs were awarded, and the connected miscellaneous petition was closed.

01Facts

The respondent-wife filed a petition for dissolution of marriage, which remained pending before the Family Court, Tiruchirappalli.

pp. 1–2

During those proceedings, she sought interim maintenance under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, and the Family Court ordered the appellant-husband to pay her ₹8,000 per month.

pp. 1–2

The husband appealed under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act.

pp. 1–2

He challenged the appeal’s maintainability in light of a Division Bench decision holding that an appeal does not lie against a Section 24 interim-maintenance order.

pp. 2–4

02Issues

i.Whether an appeal under Section 19 of the Family Courts Act is maintainable against a Family Court order granting interim maintenance under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act

pp. 2–5

ii.If the appeal is not maintainable, whether the appellant may challenge the order by a petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India

pp. 4–5

03Law Applied

Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act provides for interim or pendente lite maintenance.

Applying the Division Bench decision in S. Menaka v. K.S.K. Nepolian Socraties, 2024 (2) CTC 742, the Court held that an appeal does not lie against an order under Section 24, whether under Section 28 of the Hindu Marriage Act or Section 19 of the Family Courts Act; the available remedy is a revision under Article 227 of the Constitution of India.

pp. 3–4

The decision also recognises that such an interim-maintenance order is interlocutory and may be reviewed or varied.

p. 4

Provisions in the judgment · 3 · Linked ones open on LawLens

Family Courts Act, 1984 Section 19

Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 Section 24 Section 28

04Reasoning

The impugned order granted interim maintenance under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act.

pp. 3–5

The Division Bench authority directly addressed the maintainability of appeals against such orders and held that Article 227, rather than an appeal, is the appropriate remedy.

pp. 3–5

Following that ruling, the Court concluded that it could not entertain the husband’s appeal and left any challenge to the maintenance order, including issues concerning the deposit made under the appeal’s interim order, to the court hearing a future revision.

pp. 3–5