Interim Stay

Case BriefsHigh Courts

Patna High Court: Ahsanuddin Amanullah, J. allowed the application of the petitioner to set aside the order granting maintenance to his wife when the divorce was granted on account of adultery on the wife’s part.

The petitioner filed an application under Section 19(4) of the Family Courts Act, 1984, against the order dated passed by the Principal Judge, Family Court, Vaishali at Hajipur which directed the petitioner to pay Rs 8,000 per month as maintenance to his wife. The order was delivered ex parte and there was no valid service of notice on the petitioner during the proceeding and, thus, he was unaware of the same. The revision petition was filed within the limitation period.

The impugned order was passed under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 which excludes a wife living in adultery from being entitled to receive any maintenance. It was submitted that in Divorce Case filed by the petitioner against the opposite party and one Sunny

Rajak, the Principal Judge, Family Court, Samastipur by judgment dated 11-10-2017, had dissolved the marriage between the petitioner and the opposite party on the ground that she was living in adultery with Sunny Rajak. It was submitted that in the said case, Sunny Rajak had contested the suit whereas the opposite party had chosen not to contest. The learned counsel submitted that once a competent Court had held the opposite party to be living in adultery with Sunny Rajak, Section 125(4) of the Code disentitles her to any maintenance from the petitioner.

The opposite party submitted that they have challenged the decree of divorce which was still pending.

The Court held that the order passed in the Maintenance Case No. 84 of 2016, could not be sustained. Section 125(4) of the Code clearly debars a wife living in adultery from receiving any maintenance from her husband. In the present case, the marriage between the parties was dissolved on the grounds that the opposite party was found to be living in adultery with one Sunny Rajak.  Further, the Court also that mere pendency of an appeal against the order dissolving the marriage, inter alia on the ground of adultery, which till date was neither disposed of nor any interim stay of such order was granted, cannot be a ground to uphold the order impugned.

In view of the above-noted facts, the instant application was allowed and the order in the Maintenance Case was set aside.[Rajesh Rajak v. Rinku Devi, 2019 SCC OnLine Pat 1521, decided on 30-08-2019]

Case BriefsTribunals/Commissions/Regulatory Bodies

Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), New Delhi: Petitioner prayed before Shiva Kirti Singh, Chairperson and A.K. Bhargava, Member to set aside or quash the circular/letter in order to restrain the rates derived from circular in accordance with Tribunal’s previous judgment. By interim relief sought by the petitioner, they had asked to put a stay on the circular and to stop the respondent from taking any coercive action against petitioner for recovery of amounts under the impugned circular/letter.

It was submitted by the petitioner that earlier when a similar circular was issued by respondent whereby the infrastructural charges rates were revised the Tribunal upheld the same but it was to apply prospectively i.e. from next financial year. Though the aforementioned judgment was challenged before the Supreme Court to no stay on the judgment and order was granted.

Tribunal was of the view that earlier interim relief was passed in a routine manner without noting anything on merits and without looking at the law laid down in the judgment so earlier passed. In the judgment, so passed petitioners were only protected from imposition of rates from any date prior to the next financial year with a declaration that respondents can revise the rates of infrastructural facilities. Since that judgment was not stayed, no prima facie case to grant interim stay in the instant case arose. Tribunal found a balance of convenience not in favour of petitioner in respect to money claim as payment made under the impugned circular was subject to the result of the petition. Therefore, Tribunal rejected the prayer for interim relief. [Cellular Operators Assn. of India v. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., 2019 SCC OnLine TDSAT 63, dated 05-04-2019]

Case BriefsHigh Courts

Kerala High Court: The Bench of Dama Seshadri Naidu J. hearing a civil writ petition filed by a vehicle dealer granted an interim stay on the levy of Goods and Services Tax on the amount collected by vehicle dealers from purchasers.

Petitioner, a motor vehicle dealer, challenged the applicability of Section 15(2) of the GST Act, 2017 which mandates that the value of supply should include any taxes, duties, cesses, fees and charges levied under any other law in force. His contention was that the amount of 1% that the dealer of motor vehicle collects from the purchaser of a car worth more than ten lakhs (which is the tax collected at source), under Section 206C (1F) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 cannot be treated as an integral part of the value of the goods and services supplied by the petitioner. This is so because the dealer of the motor vehicle, acts only as an agent for the State to collect income tax under Section 206C(1F) of the IT Act and that amount eventually goes to the vehicle purchaser’s credit.

The Court concluded that the petitioner had raised a prima facie issue which needed Court’s attention and further and deeper adjudication. In view thereof, it directed the tax authorities to not act on the clarification at serial no. 5 of the notification issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs till the disposal of the instant petition.[PSN Automobiles (P) Ltd. v. Union of India, WP (C) No. 680 of 2019, order dated 17-01-2019]