Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Neha Goel vs Ashish Tayal on 10 September, 2024
Bench: J.K. Maheshwari, Rajesh Bindal
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
CIVIL ORIGINAL JURISDICTION
TRANSFER PETITION (CIVIL) NO. 1455 OF 2023
NEHA GOEL PETITIONER(S)
VERSUS
ASHISH TAYAL RESPONDENT(S)
ORDER
1. The present transfer petition has been filed seeking transfer of Mat Suit No. 257 of 2023 titled as Ashish Tayal v. Neha Goel filed under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 for restitution of conjugal rights from Serampore, Hooghly, West Bengal to Hisar, Haryana.
2. On appearance, as consented by the parties, vide order dated 01.09.2023, it was referred to the Supreme Court Mediation Centre for amicable resolution of the dispute.
The parties have graciously resolved their dispute and entered into the settlement agreement dated 04.12.2023 Signature Not Verified received vide letter dated 08.12.2023 of the Supreme Court Digitally signed by Nidhi Ahuja Date: 2024.09.21 16:52:32 IST Reason: Mediation Centre. The terms of the said settlement 1 agreement are reproduced as under:
1. That both the parties hereto confirm and declare that they voluntarily and on their own free will and accord, have decided not to live together as husband and wife in future and have arrived at this settlement in presence of the mediator and their respective counsels. The parties hereto have decided to part ways by divorce through mutual consent for which the parties through their counsels shall pray before the Hon’ble Supreme Court, on the next date of hearing in Transfer Petition (Civil) No. 1455 of 2023, to grant a decree for divorce by mutual consent, in exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India.
2. That the parties shall also jointly pray before Hon’ble Supreme Court, on the next date of hearing in Transfer Petition (Civil) No. 1455 of 2023 to quash all the cases pending between them including (a) Complaint Case No. 66 of 2023 under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 dated 10.03.2023 against the First Party before Ld. Judicial MagistrateFirst Class, Hisar, Haryana (b) Petition under section 125 bearing MNT No. 95 of 2023 dated 10.03.2023 against the First Party before the Ld. Principal District Judge, Family Court, Hisar, Haryana; (c) FIR case bearing CHI No. 1884/2023 dated 21.07.2023 under Sections 323, 406, 498A & 506 of the Indian Penal Code against the First Party before the Ld. JMIC, Hisar, Haryana (d) Petition bearing Mat Suit No. 257 of 2023 under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 dated 01.04.2023 against the Second Party before the Ld. Additional District Judge, at 2 Serampore, Hooghly West Bengal; (e) Petition bearing DMC No. 509 of 2023 under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, dated 08.05.2023 against the First Party before the Ld. Additional Principal Judge (Family Court), Hisar, Haryana, which is pending, by graciously exercising the powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India.
(3) That it is agreed between the parties that the custody of the 22 months old minor child Viaan Tayal will be with the Second Party and no visitation rights will be given to the First Party.
(4) That it is agreed between the parties that they have exchanged their respective Jewellery as per Annexure – A and B with each other at the time of signing of this Settlement Agreement.
(5) That it is agreed between the parties that the First Party will pay the Second Party a total of Rs.28 Lakhs in three installements.
(6) That it is agreed between the parties that out of the abovementioned Rs.28 Lakh settlement amount 10 Lakh will be paid on 01.01.2024, Rs.9 Lakhs will be paid on 02.04.2024, and the rest Rs.9 Lakhs will be paid on 21.06.2024.
(7) That the parties agree that after the aforesaid payment of Rs.28 Lakhs by the First Party to the Second Party, the parties will not have any claims against each other. The Second Party has not and will not have any claim towards alimony/maintenance against the First Party.
3(8) That both the parties further agree to that they will not make any character assassination of each other nor will file any civil or criminal litigation of any nature whatsoever, directly or through their agents, assignees, friends or family members against each other or the members of their families.
(9) That it is further agreed that the Second Party/wife shall not claim any Stridhan, jewellery, clothes, gifts, articles and maintenance (past, present, and future). It is agreed between both the parties that the parties shall not have any right, title, interest, claims etc. whatsoever in the properties of the other party, after the execution of the present agreement.
(10) That both the parties agree and undertake not to make any allegations, defamatory or derogatory statements against each other and their respective family members personally or on any public forum or through social media i.e., WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. or in any other manner.
(11) The Parties agree to safely disposeoff copies and not misuse any form of private credentials, Government IDs and State issued documents and certificates including in the nature of Aadhar Card, Passport, Election Identity Card, PAN Card and any other form of Unique Identification issued to any of the parties, that they might possess of the other party. The Parties agree not to share the aforesaid information/documents in any form whatsoever with any third party or use it themselves 4 against the other, for any purpose whatsoever.
(12) That the parties agree that they have executed the present Settlement Agreement of their free will and volition without any force or pressure from anybody. The parties also agree that they have understood the contents of the present Settlement Agreement and have consented to the same in its true letter and spirit, and as such they shall not dispute the same ever in future. The Parties undertake to be bound by the present Settlement Agreement and further undertake not to dispute the same hereinafter in future.”
3. During the hearing on 18.07.2024, after going through the said settlement, we found that no provision was made regarding visitation rights of father with the child. In fact, as per clause (3) of settlement, visitation rights were denied to the first party i.e., husband. Looking at the welfare of the child, we were unable to accept the said clause of settlement, however, on the request, matter was again referred for mediation on the said issue.
4. As per above said order, we have received a subsequent mediation report dated 22.08.2024 along with subsequent settlement agreement from Supreme Court Mediation Centre, and as per the said report, the parties have also 5 agreed to the additional terms and are ready to ignore clause(3) of the previous settlement. The subsequent settlement is as under:
(1) The Visitation Right to the Father (Respondent) once in a month on 2nd Saturday of each month at 7 P.M. for 10 to 15 minutes virtually.
(2) Physical Meeting with the father (Respondent) quarterly between 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. wherever the Petitioner reside and the meeting will be in the presence of the Petitioner.
(3) The Respondent will inform the Petitioner for his physical visit one week before the scheduled date of visitation on mobile phone number 9540813955 and email id – [email protected].
5. Hearing of the Court proceedings has been joined by the parties virtually. They have been identified by their respective advocates. We have also interacted with them.
During interaction they have agreed to the terms of the first and the second settlement agreements, ignoring clause (3) of the first settlement in view of the subsequent settlement agreement.
6. Petitioner states that she has received a sum of ₹28,00,000/ (Rupees TwentyEight lakhs) as specified in 6 the settlement agreement. Both the parties admitted that after going through the settlement agreements, they have signed on these voluntarily and wanting to part away from their married life, requested to grant the divorce by mutual consent in adherence to the settlement agreements. The parties have filed a joint application (I.A. No. 85221/2024) seeking divorce by mutual consent.
7. Having heard learned counsel and also the parties present and considering the Settlement Agreements dated 04.12.2023 and 22.08.2024 as also the joint application filed, we dispose of this transfer petition with the following directions:
(i) As consented by the parties, we grant decree of divorce by mutual consent in exercise of our powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India. In consequence, the marriage between petitioner (Neha Goel) and respondent (Ashish Tayal) shall stand dissolved. As an outcome, the parties are set free to lead their lives separately as per their own will.
(ii) The petitioner has received a sum of ₹28,00,000/ (Rupees TwentyEight Lakhs only) towards full and 7 final permanent alimony, including past, present and future maintenance and she would not raise any further claim in future in the property of husband or his family.
(iii) The parties have undertaken to adhere to the terms of the first and the second settlement agreements ignoring clause (3) of the first settlement agreement.
(iv) The cases mentioned in Clause 2 of the settlement agreement, the following cases shall be treated as disposed of and shall be consigned to the record:
i) Complaint Case No. 66 of 2023 under Section 12 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 pending before the Judicial MagistrateFirst Class, Hisar, Haryana.
ii) MNT No. 95/2023 under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, before the Principal District Judge, Family Court, Hisar, Haryana.
iii) Mat Suit No. 257/2023 under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 pending before the Additional District Judge at Serampore, Hooghly West Bengal.
iv) DMC No. 509/2023 under Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, pending before the Additional Principal Judge (Family Court), Hisar, Haryana.
8(v) FIR bearing CHI No. 1884/2023 registered at Women Police Station, Hisar, Haryana under Sections 323, 406, 498A and 506 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 and all consequential proceedings, be treated as quashed.
8. The Settlement Agreements dated 04.12.2023 and 22.08.2024 are on record and be treated as part of this order.
9. Decreesheet be prepared.
10. The copy of this order be sent to all the Courts concerned for placing the same on record of the respective files and consign them to record.
11. The Transfer Petition is, accordingly, disposed of.
12. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.
……………………………………………., J.
[ J.K. MAHESHWARI ] ……………………………………………., J.
[ RAJESH BINDAL ] New Delhi September 10, 2024.
9 ITEM NO.2 COURT NO.8 SECTION XVI
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Transfer Petition (Civil) No. 1455/2023 NEHA GOEL Petitioner(s) VERSUS ASHISH TAYAL Respondent(s) (IA No. 112400/2023 - EX-PARTE STAY and IA No. 85221/2024 - PASSING APPROPRIATE ORDER OR DECREE UNDER ARTICLE 142 OF THE CONSTITUTION) Date : 10-09-2024 This matter was called on for hearing today.
CORAM : HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.K. MAHESHWARI HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE RAJESH BINDAL For Petitioner(s) Ms. Aanchal Jain, AOR Mr. Karan Dewan, Adv.
For Respondent(s) Mr. Amish Aggarwala, AOR Ms. Antara Mishra, Adv.
Mr. Anubhav Tyagi, Adv.
Mr. Kuldeep Jauhari, Adv.
Mr. Karan Ahuja, Adv.
Ms. Alka Nupur Singh, Adv.
Mr. Vedansh Lohani, Adv.
Mr. Aman Durga, Adv.
Ms. Nikita Bhardwaj, Adv.
Ms. Manisha Yadav, Adv.
Mr. Sahil Ahuja, Adv.
Ms. Ekta Mudgil, Adv.
Ms. Samta Sharma, Adv.
Mr. Satish Kumar, Adv.
Ms. Manju Aggarwal, Adv.
Mr. Sanjeev Kumar, Adv.
Mr. Paramveer Deswal, Adv.
Ms. Sasmita Tripathay, Adv.
Mr. Harsh Goyal, Adv.
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following O R D E R The transfer petition is disposed of in terms of the signed order. Pending application(s), if any, shall stand disposed of.
(NIDHI AHUJA) (ANU BHALLA)
AR-cum-PS COURT MASTER (NSH)
[Signed order is placed on the file.]
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