The Karnataka High Court has allowed a petition filed by an estranged couple for mutual consent divorce and waived off the mandatory one-year cooling period before deciding on the petition file for mutual consent divorce under the Special Marriage Act.
A division bench of Justice G Narender and Justice Vijaykumar A Patil allowed the petition filed by the couple and set aside the Family Court order dismissing the couple’s application under Section 28 (2) of the Act. The bench said,
“The parties to the proceedings are between the age group of 32 to 37 years and they have specifically averred that they intend to concentrate on their career and decided to move on in their respective life. The said decision of the appellants is a conscious decision and the parties are quite mature about the consequences of the said decision. In the facts and circumstances narrated above, this Court is of the considered view that the possibilities of reconciliation between the appellants are bleak.“
Putting a question mark on the Family Court order the petitioners argued that the parties and their respective family members made their best efforts to resolve the dispute amicably and unite the appellants. However, their relationship has moved to the path of irretrievable path and therefore they have decided to dissolve their marital bond.
Further, it was also submitted in the Court that both appellants after detailed discussions with their parents and close relatives, reached to the conclusion that they don’t have compatibility between them and have decided to focus on their career.
The bench also referred to a Supreme Court judgment in Amardeep Singh vs. Harveen Kaur case reported in 2017 and observed,
“The very object of providing cooling period for filing of the petition and further period of six months from the date of filing the petition is with an object to see that the parties to the proceeding can change their mind and resolve their differences, if after a period of six months, the parties decide to go ahead with divorce, make a motion before the jurisdictional Court so that it can consider the case on its merits.”
Further, the bench also said, “The Hon’ble Supreme Court has clearly held that the period mentioned in the statute is not mandatory but it is a directory in nature, however, the Courts while exercising the discretion is required to look into the facts and circumstances of each case as to whether the parties to the proceedings are likely to reunite and resume the cohabitation or in the alternate proceed to consider the case on its merits.“
The Court noted that both the appellants are Engineering Graduates and also working in reputed companies at Bengaluru. It also said that the pleadings clarified it that they have realised that their personality differences and strong dissimilarities of likes and dislikes even after best efforts to reconcile.
The Court also held, “They have decided to part away from the institution of marriage without making any allegation or claims against each other. Hence, it would be appropriate to exercise discretion for waiving off the cooling period by permitting the appellants to move the petition for dissolution of marriage by mutual consent. In view of the above, it would not be appropriate for the parties to wait unnecessarily for a further period. Any further period would only add to their agony.“
Eventually, the Court found it suitable to waive off statutory period by directing the Family Court to consider the case of the appellants for dissolving marriage by mutual consent based on its merits and by law.
News Source: https://www.livelaw.in/high-court/karnataka-high-court/karnataka-high-court-waives-cooling-off-period-divorce-mutual-consent-special-marriage-act-237098
