Introduction

• Maintenance is known as “Nafqah” which means what a man spends on his family which includes food clothing and lodging.
• The concept of maintenance is to protect the rights of wife and protect her a dignified life and even after dissolution of marriage the husband is in the liability to provide maintenance to his wife if she is not able to maintain herself.

Liability For Maintenance

A person become liable for ‘Nafqah’ or maintenance on account of a person: -

• Being his wife,
• Being his relative i.e., children, grandchildren, aged parents and other relatives, and
• Being his servant

Requisites for a claim- General rule-

• The general rule in this regard is that only such person is entitled to maintenance -(i) who has no property of his own, (ii) who is related within prohibited degrees to the person, and (iii) the person from whom he claims in “easy circumstances”.

Exception-

The above general rule do not apply to the following:

• When the claimant is wife, and
• When the claimants are minor sons or unmarried daughters, except when he has no means.

Persons entitled for maintenance:

• The wife
• The children
• The parents and grandparents
• The other relations

Maintenance to Muslim Wife:

• Under Muslim law, the wife’s right to be maintained by her husband is absolute. A Muslim husband is bound to maintain his wife of a valid marriage even if there is no agreement in this regard.
• It is the obligation of the husband to provide proper maintenance to his wife in all circumstances whether he is in good financial condition or not.

Quantum of Maintenance:

• The quantum of maintenance is not prescribed under any matrimonial statute. It is decided as per the discretion of the court depending upon the condition of husband and wife.
• In addition to provide maintenance the husband is obliged to give other contracted expenses such as Karachi-I-pandan and Meva- kohri etc. to the wife.

Under what circumstances does the wife is not entitled to get maintenance?

• She has not attained puberty.
• She has abandoned her husband and marital duties with sufficient reason.
• Where she elopes with some other man.
• In a case where she disobeys the reasonable commands of her husband.

But wife can claim maintenance even if she disobeys her husband

• if the husband keeps a concubine
• If the husband is guilty of committing cruelty towards his wife
• If the marriage cannot be consummated owing to his illness, malformation his absence from wife without her prior permission or the husband has still not attained the age of puberty.

Maintenance of Wife under Criminal Procedure Code, 1973:

• The claim of wife for the maintenance under this act is an independent statutory right not affected by her personal law.
• A Muslim wife, who lives separately due to her husband’s second marriage, is entitled to claim maintenance allowance under the provisions of Criminal Procedure Code, 1973.
• In Mohd. Ahmad Khan v. Shah Bano Begum(1985), the Supreme Court reiterated its stand and held that a divorced Muslim woman, so long as she has not remarried, is a wife for the purpose of Section 125, Cr.P.C, 1973 and is entitled to maintenance from her former husband.

Maintenance under The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act,1986:

• Maintenance during the Iddat: The divorced woman is entitled to a reasonable and fair amount of maintenance for herself during the ‘Iddat’ period from her former husband.
• Maintenance after the Iddat: The divorced woman who remains unmarried after the Iddat, and is unable to maintain herself, is entitled to get maintenance from her such relatives who would inherit her properties upon her death. In the absence of any such relatives or, where they have no sufficient means, then ultimately the liability to maintain her is cast upon the Waqf Board of the state in which she resides.

The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act,1986 has now made the operation of Section 125-128, of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 optional in respect of Muslim woman.

• In Danial Latifi and others v. Union of India (2001), Supreme Court held that all the writ petitioners challenging the constitutional validity of the Muslim Women Act 1986 were clubbed together in this P.I.L. under Article 32 of the constitution. The writ petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court challenging the validity of Muslim Women Act 1986. The court upheld the validity of the act.

Maintenance of children:

• Children are the responsibility of their parents, and they should be taken care of. They are entitled to proper and adequate maintenance from their parents and specially the father.
• As under Muslim law men are considered as superior and are in the obligation to maintain his family, and maintenance of the child is his primary responsibility.

Mother obligation to maintain her child arises when the child is illegitimate, and the husband has refused to maintain the child.

• Under Hanafi law if the father is poor and the mother is rich in that case it is the obligation of the mother to maintain the child. However, she can recover the money when husband gets into the condition to repay it.
• Under Shafei law even if the father is poor and mother is rich then the mother is not obliged to maintain her child dot in that case it is the obligation of grandfather to maintain the child.

Maintenance of Parents and grandparents:

• As the parents are under an obligation to maintain their children, so are children liable to provide maintenance to their parents. Every child, whether male or female, adult or minor, who has sufficient property, is responsible to supply maintenance to his parents.
• If there are -(i) no children, or (ii) the children are indigent, it is the liability of the grandchildren to provide maintenance to their grandparents.

Conclusion

The maintenance provisions of the Muslim Law are different from other Personal laws. More efforts and contribution of judicial system and legislation are required to improvise the condition of the wives under Muslim law.

The concept of maintenance is to protect the rights of the wife and protect her a dignified life and even after dissolution of marriage the husband is in the liability to provide maintenance to his wife if she is not able to maintain herself. It is not only provided to the wife but also to children, parents, grandparents and grandchildren and other relatives by blood.