PRAYAGRAJ: A wife is not entitled to maintenance under section 125(1)(a) of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) if she is gainfully employed and earning a sufficient salary to maintain herself, Allahabad high court observed, setting aside a family court order directing a husband to pay an allowance of Rs 5,000 to maintain income and status parity between the parties, even though the wife was earning Rs 36,000 per month.Allowing a criminal revision petition filed by the husband, Ankit Saha, Justice Madan Pal Singh noted that the wife had not approached the court with clean hands.She initially claimed to be illiterate and unemployed, whereas records placed before the court showed she was a postgraduate working as a senior sales coordinator.Saha had challenged a Gautam Budha Nagar family court’s order directing him to pay maintenance allowance to the wife.He submitted that his wife did, in her application before the family court, explicitly claimed to be unemployed, even though she was a web designer by qualification, drawing a salary of Rs 36,000 per month.The high court, in its Dec 3 order, observed that under section 125 CrPC, maintenance may be awarded to the wife when she is unable to maintain herself.But, in this case, the wife, in her cross-examination and affidavit, had admitted having a monthly income of Rs 36,000.For a wife with no other liability, such an amount cannot be said to be meager, the court said, adding that the husband, in contrast, has the distinct responsibility of maintaining his aged parents and meeting other social obligations.
