Maintenance Under Section 125 BNSS: Wife's Right and How to Apply in Chandigarh

Who Can Claim Under Section 125?

Section 125 BNSS allows maintenance to be claimed by:

• Wife: A wife who is unable to maintain herself. This includes a wife who is separated but not yet divorced, and a divorced wife who has not remarried and has not received a one-time settlement under personal law.
• Minor children: Legitimate or illegitimate children who are unable to maintain themselves.
• Adult children with disability: Children who cannot maintain themselves due to physical or mental abnormality or injury.
• Parents: Father or mother unable to maintain themselves.

Section 125 applies to all persons regardless of religion. It is a secular provision available to Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs alike — though the quantum and other aspects may interact with personal law remedies that run simultaneously.

When a Wife Cannot Claim

A wife loses the right to claim maintenance under Section 125 if:

• She is living in adultery.
• She refuses to live with her husband without sufficient cause.
• She is living separately by mutual consent.
• She has remarried after divorce.

These are defences available to the husband. The burden of proving adultery or refusal without sufficient cause lies on the husband.

How Courts Decide the Amount

There is no fixed formula. Courts in Chandigarh and Mohali look at several factors:

• Husband's income and earning capacity: Salary slips, bank statements, income tax returns, business income. Courts look at actual income and potential earning capacity — a husband who is deliberately unemployed or under-employed is not protected.
• Wife's income and assets: If the wife is employed or has independent income, this reduces the maintenance awarded.
• Standard of living during marriage: Courts try to ensure the wife can maintain a lifestyle reasonably consistent with what she was accustomed to.
• Needs of children: School fees, medical expenses and general living costs are factored in when children's maintenance is sought alongside the wife's.

Interim Maintenance

A maintenance application can take months to fully decide. Pending the final hearing, a wife can apply for interim maintenance — a temporary amount paid from the date of application until the main case is decided.

Courts typically decide interim maintenance applications within a few hearings. The standard applied is a summary one — the court does not go into detailed evidence but forms a prima facie view of the husband's income and the wife's needs. Interim maintenance awarded at this stage can later be revised upward or downward when the main case is decided.

Importantly, maintenance under Section 125 can be awarded from the date of the application, not the date of the order. This means arrears can accumulate and must be paid in a lump sum or in instalments as directed by the court.

Where to File in Chandigarh and Mohali

The application is filed before the Family Court or the Chief Judicial Magistrate having jurisdiction over the place where the wife resides or where the parties last resided together. For residents of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula, the respective Family Courts in each city have jurisdiction.

Enforcing a Maintenance Order

If the husband does not pay the maintenance ordered by the court, the wife has several enforcement options:

• Warrant for arrest: The court can issue a warrant for the husband's arrest and he can be imprisoned for up to one month for each month's default.
• Attachment of property: The court can attach the husband's movable or immovable property and sell it to recover the arrears.
• Attachment of salary: Where the husband is in employment, the court can direct his employer to deduct maintenance from salary and pay it directly to the wife.

Non-payment of maintenance is taken seriously by courts. A husband who defaults repeatedly risks imprisonment. In practice, the threat of enforcement proceedings is often enough to secure compliance.