After man refuses to pay maintenance to wife, Supreme Court orders his employer to deduct the amount from salary

The Supreme Court recently directed the employer of a man who refused to pay maintenance to his estranged wife to deduct ₹25,000 per month from his salary and transfer the amount directly to his wife’s bank account.

A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan passed the order after noting that the husband had failed to clear maintenance arrears and had declined to pay any amount towards the upkeep of his wife and minor daughter.

It therefore directed the husband’s employer to deduct the amount directly from his monthly salary and transfer it to the wife’s bank account.

“In such circumstances, we are left with no other option but to direct the employer of the respondent-husband… that an amount of ₹25,000 shall be deducted per month from the salary and the said amount shall be transferred by RTGS to the account of his wife,” the Court ordered.

The Court also expressed concern about the welfare of the couple’s four-year-old daughter. It noted that the child is being raised by her mother alone and that the child's father had not even seen her for several years.

The Court was hearing a transfer petition filed by a woman seeking the transfer of matrimonial proceedings. It noted that she and her husband had been living separately since 2022, and that mediation attempts had failed.

An interim maintenance order had already been passed by a judicial magistrate in 2024. However, the husband failed to pay the ordered interim maintenance had accumulated arrears of about ₹1.38 lakh.

Despite filing an affidavit stating that he earned ₹50,000 per month, the husband declined to accede to a suggestion by the Court to deposit ₹2.5 lakhs, which included the arrears of interim maintenance.

The Court also noted that in an earlier hearing, it had asked the husband to deposit ₹25,000 as travel expenses for his wife and daughter to attend mediation proceedings before the Supreme Court Mediation Centre. However, he failed to comply with that direction as well.

“It is unfortunate to note that the husband has not even bothered to deposit an amount of ₹25,000 towards travelling expenses of his wife and minor daughter as ordered by us,” the Court noted.

Therefore, in view of his continued refusal to pay maintenance despite earning ₹50,000 per month, the Court ordered his employer to deduct ₹25,000 every month from his salary and transfer the amount directly to his wife’s bank account.