Can’t convert husband’s foreign income ‘mechanically’ into Indian currency for maintenance: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court recently observed that a husband’s foreign income cannot be mechanically converted into Indian currency for granting maintenance to the wife.

Justice Amit Mahajan made the observation while dealing with pleas filed by both husband and wife challenging family court’s interim maintenance order awarding Rs 50,000 maintenance to wife.

The wife had sought enhancement of the maintenance amount whereas the husband had sought reduction of the amount.

“Mere earning in foreign currency does not, by itself, entitle the wife to claim maintenance by mechanically converting the husband’s foreign income into Indian currency and applying the formulae evolved by Indian courts without due regard to the attendant circumstances,” the court held.

The court noted that husband is required to incur expenses in foreign currency, and the cost of living in the USA could not be equated with that prevailing in Delhi.

The court, while considering that the wife was not gainfully employed, enhanced the interim maintenance to Rs 1 lakh per month.

The Family Court had earlier directed the husband to pay Rs 50,000 per month as interim maintenance to his wife. It had noted that the husband failed to file his written statement or submit a detailed income affidavit, leading to his defence being struck off.

It proceeded to assess maintenance based on the material placed on record by the wife.

Before the high court, the wife contended that her husband was working with Amazon in the US and was earning over Rs 1 crore per annum. She submitted that she was unemployed and had no independent source of income.

On the other hand, the husband argued that she was highly qualified, and had voluntarily left her job despite having the capacity to earn.

The court observed that the determination of interim maintenance is not an exercise capable of mathematical precision.

“More often than not, particularly in cases where one of the spouses is employed abroad and has failed to place complete and candid disclosure of income before the Court, the assessment necessarily involves a degree of estimation and informed guesswork,” it noted.

The court held that the sacrosanct duty of a husband to maintain his wife cannot be construed to mean that the entirety of the husband’s income is liable to be equalised or proportionately mirrored in the amount of maintenance.

“Having regard to the totality of the facts and circumstances of the case, and considering that the wife is admittedly not gainfully employed, this Court deems it appropriate to enhance the interim maintenance from Rs. 50,000/- per month to Rs. 1,00,000/- per month, based on a broad, reasonable, and rounded-off assessment,” the court ordered.