Qualified for job, woman denied maintenance by Delhi court

A woman has been declined interim maintenance by a Delhi court, which observed that she was professionaly more qualified than her estranged husband and had failed to show why she didn’t look for a job.
Additional District Judge in Delhi Sujata Kohli declined the plea for interim maintenance filed by a woman, who was a graduate from Delhi University, held a diploma in library science and was once gainfully employed as lab technician in the varsity itself while her husband had studied till higher secondary.
“She has not assigned any reason as to why she has not tried to do any other job with the said qualification. It is not her case that she searched for one and could not obtain. Admittedly, there is no issue of the wedlock, and as such, the applicant/wife is free to take up an employment.”
“Be that as it may, since the applicant/wife herself has failed to disclose the reason for not doing any job in spite of being able bodied and also educationally and professionally qualified, and much better qualified than the non-applicant/ husband, she has failed to make out an entitlement for any interim maintenance for herself,” the court said.
Reliance was placed on a decision of Madhya Pradesh High Court of year 2000 wherein it was said that “a spouse who is well qualified to get service immediately with less efforts is not expected to remain idle to squeeze out, to milk out the other spouse by relieving him of his or her own purse by a cut in the nature of pendente lite alimony.
“The law does not expect the increasing number of such idle persons who by remaining in the arena of legal battles, try to squeeze out the adversory by implementing provisions of law suitable to their purpose.”
The woman and her husband had moved court for judicial separation and in the meantime, she had filed a plea for interim maintenance of Rs 25,000 from him.