Wife’s convenience and existing litigation at place of residence prioritize transfer of matrimonial proceedings under Section 24 CPC.

The applicant (wife) filed a petition under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, seeking to transfer a matrimonial suit filed by her husband from the Family Court at Amreli to the Family Court at Rajkot

The applicant resides in Rajkot and argued that traveling approximately 200 kilometers to Amreli causes significant hardship

The applicant has already initiated separate legal proceedings against the opponent under the Domestic Violence Act and for maintenance, which are currently pending in the Rajkot courts

The opponent contested the transfer, suggesting that the applicant could participate in the Amreli proceedings via video conferencing

1. Whether the matrimonial proceedings should be transferred from Amreli to Rajkot based on the personal hardships and existing litigation of the applicant

Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, which grants discretionary power to High Courts to transfer suits to ensure justice and convenience

Precedents established by the Supreme Court in Smita Singh v. Kumar Sanjay and N.C.V. Aishwarya v. A.S. Saravana Karthik Sha, which emphasize prioritizing the convenience of the wife in matrimonial transfer applications

The court found that the applicant resides in Rajkot, while the husband's suit was filed in Amreli, 200 kilometers away

The court noted that the opponent is already required to attend court in Rajkot for two other pending criminal and maintenance matters initiated by the applicant

Balancing the hardships, the court reasoned that the inconvenience to the wife in traveling to Amreli outweighed the potential inconvenience to the husband if the case were moved to Rajkot

While the husband requested video conferencing as an alternative to transfer, the court determined that the overall circumstances warranted a physical transfer of the case file to ensure a consolidated and fair hearing of all related disputes in one location

The court directed the Rajkot court to hear the transferred case alongside the existing suits to avoid conflicting judgments. The court also granted the opponent the liberty to request common hearing dates and the use of video conferencing for his own appearances, provided his physical presence is not recovery-critical for specific stages of the trial