The judgement was delivered by Justice K U Chandiwal who asked a Bahrain-based man to pay maintenance to his eldest daughter even though she had attained majority.
The court overruled a family Court order which had rejected his wife's claim requiring her husband to pay maintenance to her eldest daughter who was not married and financially independent.
The Judge, while giving his ruling on October 16, observed that a father is liable to pay maintenance to his daughters till they marry. In this case, the eldest daughter was unmarried but was dependent on her homemaker mother and hence was entitled to maintenance.
The family court had ordered the father to pay maintenance to his two minor children but rejected the mother's claim for maintenance to the eldest daughter.
The couple had three children -- two daughters and a son. The father worked in the finance department of Bahrain Government and visited his family in India every two years.
His wife claimed that he earned Rs 90,000 per month but the man contended that his monthly income was around Rs 30,000.
In 2008, the wife went to stay with her mother-in-law in Mahad town of Raigad district. When she came back two years later she found that her husband had granted her 'Talak' and remarried.
On May 23 last year, the wife filed an application for maintenance in the family court which ordered the man to pay Rs 5000 per month to his wife and Rs 2500 per month to each of his minor children.
The High Court ordered the father to pay Rs 1500 interim maintenance to his eldest daughter from the date of filing the petition till the application for maintenance is finally heard. The family court was asked to dispose of the matter within three months.
