The Supreme Court recently took a strong exception to a woman seeking Rs 5 crore alimony for the dissolution of a marriage that lasted for one year and two months.
The bench headed by Justices JB Pardiwalla warned the woman of a “very harsh order” if she persisted with the Rs 5 crore alimony demand.
The husband is an engineer with Amazon, and he had offered Rs 35 lakhs for settlement, but his wife allegedly wanted Rs 5 crore.
The counsel for the woman, however, refuted the claims by the husband’s counsel and said that the amount sought was reduced from Rs 5 crore in the mediation center.
Justice Pardiwala, while addressing the husband’s counsel, said, “You will be making a blunder by calling her back. You won’t be able to keep her. Her dreams are very big.”
The court described the Rs 5 crore demand as unreasonable and said such a stance could invite adverse orders.
These remarks were made last week on Thursday while the court was hearing a case of marriage dissolution.
The bench ultimately directed the estranged couple to return to the Supreme Court mediation center for further settlement discussions and cautioned the wife against continuing the Rs 5 crore alimony demand.
We direct the parties to go back to the Supreme Court mediation center for the purpose of settlement.
“We are informed that the wife demanded a sum of rupees 5 crore for the purpose of dissolution of the marriage. The marital life between the parties is just about one year,” Justice Pardiwala said.
“If such is going to be the stance of the wife, we may have to pass some orders which she may not like. Right? We expect the wife to put forward reasonable demands and put an end to this litigation,” Justice Pardiwala added.
The top court has asked both parties to appear before the Supreme Court mediation center on October 5.
The matter will be taken up again after the mediation report is submitted.