Bilaspur: In a major verdict, the Chhattisgarh High Court on Wednesday said that an unmarried daughter could claim expenses for her marriage from the parents under Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956. The HC bench, comprising Justices Gautam Bhaduri and Sanjay Aggarwal, set aside a previous order by the Durg Family Court, directing the latter to reconsider the issue and accordingly take a decision in a case that has been dragging on for the last six years.
The case in hand pertains to a plea filed by one Rajeshwari back in 2016. The applicant, identified as the daughter of Bhanuram, a worker at Bhilai Steel Plant, stated that her father was going to retire in 2016, and would be getting Rs 75 lakh at the time of his retirement. The applicant further asked for a directive to be given to the latter to provide her with Rs 20 lakh for her marriage.
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The petition was originally dismissed by the court as non-maintainable back in January 2016, with the HC referring her to the Family Court in Durg under Section 20(3) of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act. This was followed by the applicant placing a similar application in the family court, demanding Rs 25 lakh this time from the father for her marriage. The court subsequently rejected her plea for the second time back on February 20, 2016.
On Wednesday, the HC bench observed in its order that "An unmarried daughter can claim expenses from the parents for her own marriage." The court further said that "In India, normally the requirement for expenses to be incurred exist pre-marriage as well as during the marriage". The court's order came after it discussed section 20 (3) of the act and came to the conclusion that the case came within the ambit of the law.
"The obligation of a person to maintain his or her aged or infirm parent or a daughter who is unmarried extends in so far as the parent or the unmarried daughter, as the case may be, is unable to maintain himself or herself out of his or her own earnings or other property", section 20(3) of Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 says.
