Wife Facing 300-Km Bhuj Trip While Caring For 3.5-Year-Old Gets Husband’s Family Suit Moved To Dwarka

The wife applied under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, to transfer Family Suit No. 193 of 2025 from the Family Court at Bhuj–Kachchh to the concerned court at Dwarka.

She resided at Dwarka, more than 300 kilometres from Bhuj, and cared for their 3.5-year-old daughter.

She also submitted that her husband was not regularly paying maintenance despite a maintenance order.

The husband was served but did not appear to contest the application.

Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 empowers the High Court to transfer proceedings where doing so is appropriate in the interests of justice.

The Court referred to *Smita Singh v. Kumar Sanjay*, AIR 2002 SC 396; *N.C.V. Aishwarya v. A.S. Saravana Karthik Sha*, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 1199; and *Ruchi Majoo v. Sanjeev Majoo*, (2011) 6 SCC 479, as relevant authorities on transfer applications.

The Court found that requiring the wife to travel more than 300 kilometres to attend the proceedings would cause greater inconvenience than transferring the suit, particularly because she had to care for a young child and was not receiving regular maintenance or financial support.

The husband’s failure to appear left these circumstances undisputed.

Applying Section 24 CPC and the cited authorities, the Court concluded that transfer was warranted in the interests of justice.

It also allowed the husband to request remote participation, subject to the receiving court’s assessment of whether physical attendance was necessary.

Family Suit No. 193 of 2025 was ordered to be transferred from the Family Court at Bhuj–Kachchh to the concerned court at Dwarka; the Rule was made absolute.

The husband may request participation by video conference or online mode, which the receiving court may consider unless his physical presence is required at a particular stage.