Maintenance Of Child Is The Moral As Well As Legal Duty Of Parents

Maintenance has not been defined in the Act or between the parents whose duty it is to maintain the children. Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act, 1956, Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 1956 and Hindu Succession Act, 1956 constitute a law in a coded form for the Hindus. Unless there is anything repugnant to the context definition of a particular word could be lifted from any of the four Acts constituting the law to interpret a certain provision. All these Acts are to be read in conjunction with one another and interpreted accordingly…. Under section 18 of the Maintenance Act a Hindu wife shall be entitled to be maintained by her husband during her life time.

This is of course subject to certain conditions with which we are not concerned. Section 20 provides for maintenance of children and aged parents. Under this section a Hindu is bound, during his or her life time, to maintain his or her children.

A minor child so long as he is minor can claim maintenance from his or her father or mother. Section 20 is, therefore, to be contrasted with section 18. Under this section it is as much the obligation of the father to maintain a minor child as that of the mother. It is not the law that how affluent mother may be it is the obligation only of the father to maintain the minor. Here both the parents are employed. If we refer to the first application filed under section 26 of the Act by the wife she mentions that she is getting a salary of & 3,100/- per month and husband is getting a salary of Rs. 5,850/- per month.

She is, therefore, also obliged to contribute in the maintenance of the children. Salaries of both the parents have since increased with the course of time. We believe that in the same proportion, may be perhaps in the case of an employee of Reserve Bank of India at somewhat higher rate. If we take approximate salary of husband is twice as much as that of the wife, they are bound to contribute for maintenance of their children in that proportion.

Case Law: Padmaja Sharma v. Ratan Lal Sharma, 2000(4) SCC 262.