With Husband In Delhi, Wife And Children Can Enforce Jharkhand Maintenance Order Without Transfer Certificate: Delhi HC

The petitioners obtained a maintenance order from the Family Court, Dhanbad, on 24 May 2022, directing the respondent to pay monthly maintenance to petitioner no. 1 and their two children. The respondent’s criminal revision against that order was dismissed by the Jharkhand High Court on 28 June 2024.

The petitioners later sought to enforce the order before the Family Court at Rohini, where they and the respondent were residing. The Rohini court directed them to produce a certificate of non-pendency of execution proceedings from the Dhanbad court; the petitioners challenged that direction under Article 227 of the Constitution and Section 528 of the BNSS.

Section 147 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 provides that an order for maintenance, interim maintenance, or expenses of proceedings may be enforced by any Magistrate in any place where the person against whom the order was made may be, provided the Magistrate is satisfied as to the parties’ identities and the non-payment due.

The provision does not require a transfer certificate from the court that made the maintenance order.

The Court found that both the petitioners and the respondent resided in Delhi, within the jurisdiction of the Family Court at Rohini, and therefore that court could enforce the Dhanbad maintenance order under Section 147 BNSS.

Since Section 147 contains no requirement to obtain a transfer certificate from the originating court, the Rohini court’s insistence on one was unjustified.

It also set aside the costs imposed for failure to produce that certificate and clarified that it had expressed no opinion on the merits of the case.