Father has duty to maintain and pay for education, wedding of daughters even if they are earning: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that a father has a duty to maintain his daughters and take care of their education and marriage even if they have attained majority and are employed and earning income [Poonam Sethi v Sanjay Sethi]..A Division Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Jasmeet Singh said that there is a distinction between earning an income and the ability to maintain themselves.An individual could be making money but still be unable to maintain himself/herself, the Court said..“A father has a duty and an obligation to maintain his daughters and to take care of their expenses, including towards their education and marriage. This obligation is legal and absolute in character and arises from the very existence of the relationship between the parties. Kanya Daan is a solemn and pious obligation of a Hindu Father, from which he cannot renege,” the Court said..The Court was dealing with an appeal filed by mother of three children claiming that for the last 11 years she had been raising them on her own with no financial help from the father.The appeal was against an order of the Family Court which directed the father to pay maintenance for the minor son but refused any relief with regard to maintenance of two daughters who were above 18 years of age..The counsel appearing for the father, placed his reliance on the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 to state that the maintenance is restricted to the unemployed and dependent daughters. He further argued that there is no provision in the Hindu Marriage Act either that obligates him to pay maintenance of the daughters and wife once they are earning..However, the High Court disagreed and said that earning money need to necessarily mean the person is able to maintain himself/herself. Citing several judgments of the apex court and the Delhi High Court, the judges said that the view taken by the Family Court is not supported by the established precedents."As regards the daughters, we are not in agreement with the learned Principal Judge, Family Court when it holds that as the daughters were majors on the date of filing the application, they were not entitled to any maintenance. The daughters may be of majority age today. However, the Respondent is still their father. He cannot simply resile from that relationship, and the accompanying legal and moral obligation, and state that he will not take care of them. The father’s duty to maintain his unmarried daughters, including his duty to provide for their marriage is clearly recognized by the law,” the bench held..The Court said that even if an unmarried daughter is employed and earning an income, it cannot be assumed that she has the resources to meet her matrimonial expenses.“In the Indian context, the marriage of a son or a daughter would be expected to be performed, in keeping with the financial and social status of the parents. It is customary for the parents of the son/daughter– who is getting married, to deploy their resources for the wedding, to the best of their financial capacity. This is particularly true when marrying off a daughter, as the parents try to ensure that she is well provided for in the matrimonial home when she would begin her new life. In the Indian society, the marriage of a daughter is considered of paramount importance from the birth of the child. Parents from the very beginning start saving jewelry and money for the marriage of their daughters,” the Court said. .However, it noted that in the present case neither the father nor the mother have been honest about their true income.The Court said that even though it was admitted that the father is a renowned numerologist who owns a Mercedes and has traveled to the US, Hong Kong and Dubai, he stated his annual income to be a little over than ₹3 lakh which cannot be accepted. The judges, therefore, said that a certain amount of guesswork is required for determining the financial status of the father here. It then directed him to pay an amount of ₹35 lakh towards the marriage expenses of the elder daughter who is living in the UK and employed.In the case of the younger daughter who is unemployed, the Court directed the father to pay ₹50 lakh since she is not earning any income and her marriage is already scheduled..As they proceeded to dismiss the appeals, the judges also said that they are hopeful that the mother would play a positive role in bridging the gap between the father and the daughters and that he would be welcomed at the wedding functions of his daughters.“The bond between a parent and his child, particularly between a father and his daughter, is one of the strongest bonds that any two human beings can have. Even when this bond is weakened due to unfortunate past incidents, in our view, there is nothing to prevent the said bond being restored because, deep inside, both the daughter and the father are bound to have that natural and inherent love for each other. It only requires the layers of anger, hurt and ego to be brushed aside to expose the pure love & affection which a father and his daughter share… We, therefore, expect that as and when the daughters of the parties get married, the Respondent would happily participate in the functions, and the appellant, the children and other family members would respectfully and gracefully, with love & affection, welcome him to the functions and facilitate his participation in the functions wholeheartedly.”.While advocate Bhuvan Mishra appeared for the appellant wife in the case, husband was represented by advocates Anshul Narayan and Sourabh Pahwa..[Read Judgment]