HC allows the petitioner to prefer a divorce petition through power of attorney granted in favour of another person

 

A division bench of the Uttarakhand High Court comprising Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice R.C. Khulbe set aside the family court order that rejected the divorce petition by the petitioner for reason of not preferring the application personally.

Facts

The petitioner is a resident of Lexington, State Kentucky, USA. He, along with his wife mutually preferred a petition for divorce from marriage under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Since the petitioner is a resident of USA, his petition before the family court was preferred by his father Mr. Mani Ram Arya through a power of attorney granted in his favour. However, the Family Court rejected the application for the reason that it was mot preferred personally.

Observations

The High Court was dismayed by the approach of the Family Court. It rejected the petition citing that there are no precedents by the High Court allowing the same. It ignored various precedents of the Supreme Court and of other High Courts cited before it, which recognize the right of a party to be represented in proceedings under the Hindu Marriage Act, through his / her power of attorney. It observed that the Family Court need not wait for the High Court to set precedent on a matter – it must decide matters on its own. 

 

Decision

The High Court set aside the order of the Family Court and directed it to entertain the petition on the basis of power of attorney furnished on behalf of the appellant by his father.

Case: Dr. Surjeet v Dr. Namita 

Citation: A.O. No. 376 of 2022

Coram: Hon’ble Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Hon’ble Justice R.C. Khulbe 

Date: 04.11.2022

Read Judgment 

 

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(With input from news agency language)

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