The City Civil and Sessions Court of Ahmedabad has reduced the maintenance that a lower court had asked a man to pay his wife after being convinced of the latter's argument that he simply did not earn enough to cough up the amount. Interestingly, the man pleaded his own case after his lawyer failed to turn up. After the hearing, the court reduced the maintenance amount from Rs 6,500 to Rs 2,000 per month. The court while reducing the maintenance said that his other personal expenses, savings, obligations towards his family – all these cannot be simply put at bay to cater to his wife's demands. The man had appealed against a lower court's verdict stating that against his take-home pay of Rs 6,542 he had been ordered to pay Rs 6,500 to his wife as maintenance. He also accused his wife of dragging his brother who is in the Armed Forces and his entire family in the case. The court among other things also considered the fact that when queried whether his take-home pay was still Rs 6,542, he honestly replied that at present it was Rs 8,000 per month. The court also relied on the medical papers produced by the man to show that his parents who lived with him both suffered from medical conditions. While his father had coronary problems his mother was paralysed and he had said in court that he was the only one available to take care of them. Reducing the maintenance to be paid to the wife, the court observed that the amount fixed by the lower court was exorbitant in this case. The court also relied on the fact that there was nothing on record to show physical torment except narrative of words in the affidavit filed by the wife. While reducing the maintenance the court also relied on the man's pleas that he had spent a few days in jail for not paying the maintenance and that in future he would find himself in jail as he was simply not in a position to pay. The "Samadhan Karar" that the man had entered into with the wife where he agreed to pay Rs1.3 lakh as settlement also got him the court's sympathy which could not help observing that it was more a sort of apologetic undertaking reflective of his keenness to buy peace. Obligations

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