Supreme Court huge order on divorce: No need to wait for mandatory 6-month period
HY News
01 May, 2023 01:32 pm IST
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The Supreme Court on Monday held that it can dissolve marriages on the ground of "irretrievable breakdown of marriage" by dispensing with the need for the waiting period as required under the marital laws, subject to conditions.
A Constitution Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, Abhay S Oka, Vikram Nath and JK Maheshwari held that the six-month period prescribed under the Hindu Marriage Act can be dispensed with.
The bench said that it can invoke special power granted to it under Article 142 of the Constitution and the mandatory waiting period of six months for divorce through mutual consent can be dispensed with subject to conditions.
Article 142 empowers the Supreme Court to pass decrees and orders which are necessary for "doing complete justice" in any cause or matter pending before it.
The original issue referred to the Constitution Bench was whether the mandatory waiting period for divorce by mutual consent, as prescribed under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, could be waived by the Supreme Court, exercising its vast powers under Article 142, in order to dissolve broken-down marriages between consenting couples without referring them to family courts for protracted judicial proceedings to get the decree of separation.
However, during the hearing, the Constitution Bench decided to consider the issue of whether marriages could be dissolved on the ground of irretrievable breakdown.
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