Supreme Court directs father to sell ancestral shops to pay maintenance to son's wife

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has taken a serious view of the persistent defiant conduct of a man in paying maintenance to his wife and ordered the sale of ancestral shops and attachment of some other properties to disburse Rs 1.25 crore, outstanding arrears to his wife.

The man was found to have abandoned his wife, fled to Australia, married another woman and fathered two kids after obtaining ex parte divorce from a court abroad.

A bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Aravind Kumar, in a recent order, noted the wife fought several rounds of litigation against her in-laws, who chose to go to jail rather than pay her.

The woman got orders in her favour yet remained without a remedy.

The bench said the past history of this case, and the orders of this court have demonstrated the utter obduracy of Varun Gopal, who abandoned the wife.

The bench noted Varun and his father Mohan Gopal have through one pretext or another stalled compliance with the orders of the apex court.

It directed that ancestral property inherited, particularly six shops would be put to sale by the registrar of the Delhi High Court, which should ensure that the best prices are realised.

“The amounts realised from the sale shall be deposited in a fixed deposit receipt, initially for six months, and its interest, disbursed to the second respondent/applicant. In the event of no sale, the attachment of property shall continue in favour of the applicant," the bench ordered.

The woman and Varun got married in the year 2012-13, and Varun was employed in Australia.

Within two years of marriage, the relationship deteriorated leading to various legal proceedings.

Varun filed an anticipatory bail application but relief was denied to him and since then, he has not participated in the criminal proceedings or in the maintenance proceedings.

“The present petitioners (father-in-law and mother-in-law) also sought anticipatory bail to which orders were passed by this court directing them to deposit Rs 40 lakhs towards arrears of maintenance. The money having been not deposited, the anticipatory bail was not granted and they were arrested. After 10 months in custody, this court by order dated July 12, 2019, directed their release on bail,” the court said.

The wife said Varun is settled in Australia where he obtained an ex-parte divorce decree dated December 21, 2017, by the family court of Australia. The wife had filed a suit for cancellation of divorce on November 8, 2021, in the family court of Bilaspur, which is pending disposal. The wife lives with her widowed mother, on whom she is dependent for expenses, including litigation expenses. A trial court had granted a maintenance of Rs 1, 27, 500 per month in favour of the wife in April 2021.

The wife claimed that the current outstanding arrears of maintenance amounts to Rs 1.25 crore approximately.

She claimed that all available modes for the execution of her maintenance order have been exhausted. She sought a transfer of ownership of the shops in her name as a means to settle her outstanding maintenance arrears and future maintenance as well.

The wife asked the apex court to invoke its power under Article 142 of the Constitution as she approached it in 2018 where firstly Varun’s father and his deceased wife had enjoyed the fruits of anticipatory bail by giving an undertaking of making the payment of due arrears of around Rs 40 lakh at that point of time. But despite several assurances to the apex court, the same was not paid. The wife also filed a contempt petition which the apex court took cognisance but the petitioners did not make the payment and chose to go to jail.