No maintenance for educated wife, HC advises her to work

No maintenance for educated wife, HC advises her to work

Abhinav.Garg@timesofindia.com 20.03.2025

New Delhi : Delhi High Court has underlined that a well-educated wife qualified to work must not deliberately remain idle, only to receive maintenance from the husband. Denying relief to one such estranged wife who did her master’s in international business from Australia and worked in Dubai but preferred not to work, the court stressed that law doesn’t promote idling. “A well-educated wife, with experience in a suitable gainful job, ought not to remain idle solely to gain maintenance from her husband. Therefore, interim maintenance is being discouraged in the present case as this court can see potential in the petitioner to earn and make good of her education,” Justice CD Singh observed on Tuesday. 

The court said wives having the earning capacity and qualification but remaining idle should not set up a claim for interim maintenance. “Section 125 of CrPC carries the legislative intent to maintain equality among the spouses, provide protection to the wives, children and parents, and not promote idleness... A well-educated wife, with ex perience in a suitable gainful job, ought not to remain idle solely to gain maintenance from her husband,” it observed, dismissing the woman’s plea against a trial court order denying her interim maintenance from her husband. HC explained that courts need to be satisfied if the wife is genuinely in need of maintenance and the factors leading to such a need for maintenance and encouraged the petitioner to look for a job to become self-sufficient, saying she had wide exposure and was aware of worldly affairs, unlike other uneducated women who were completely dependent on their spouses for basic sustenance. 

“This court is unable to comprehend the fact as to why, despite being able-bodied and well qualified, the petitioner has chosen to remain idle since her return to India,” the bench noted, acknowledging her qualifications and past employment record. “There is no reason why she ought not to be in a position to also maintain herself in the future.” It added that though the woman claimed she was trying to find a job, neither did she place any evidence to support her claim nor resume her business activities. “Mere assertion of job-seeking, without corroborative evidence, is insufficient to establish genuine efforts of self-sufficiency,” it noted. The court highlighted WhatsApp chats between the woman and her mother where the latter advises that employment would jeopardise the alimony claims. 

“This communication, preceding the maintenance petition, strongly suggests a deliberate attempt to remain unemployed to seek maintenance claims,” the court said. The couple married in Dec 2019 and left for Singapore. The woman said she returned to India in Feb 2021 allegedly because of the cruelty meted out to her by her estranged husband and his family members. In June 2021, she filed a petition for maintenance.