Supreme Court - Daily Orders
Malay Kumar Mandal vs Sanghamitra Mandal on 7 February, 2022
Bench: D.Y. Chandrachud, Surya Kant
1
ITEM NO.17 Court 4 (Video Conferencing) SECTION II-B
S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS
Miscellaneous Application No.105/2022 in SLP(Crl) No.7949/2021
MALAY KUMAR MANDAL Petitioner(s)
VERSUS
SANGHAMITRA MANDAL Respondent(s)
(FOR ADMISSION and IA No.167100/2021-APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS
IA No. 167100/2021 - APPROPRIATE ORDERS/DIRECTIONS)
Date : 07-02-2022 This application was called on for hearing today.
CORAM :
HON'BLE DR. JUSTICE D.Y. CHANDRACHUD
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE SURYA KANT
For Petitioner(s) Mr. Rana Mukherjee, Sr. Adv.
Mr. Abhijit Basu, Adv.
Ms. Surabhi Guleria, Adv.
Ms. Tatini Basu, AOR
For Respondent(s) Ms. Anusuya Sadhu Sinha, Adv.
Mr. Shubhankar, Adv.
Ms. Pallavi Pratap, AOR
UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following
O R D E R
1 In pursuance of the mediation proceedings which took place before the Supreme Court Mediation Centre pursuant to the order dated 8 November 2021, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was arrived at and signed by the parties and their counsel.
2 The MoU reads as follows:
Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by Sanjay KumarDate: 2022.02.08 “Memorandum of Understanding 12:06:35 IST Reason: This Memorandum of Understanding is entered into by and between:2
1. Malay Kumar Mandal, aged about 52 years. son of late Bidhan Chandra Mandal, resident of 181/19, Canal Street, Sreebhoomi, Police Station Lake Town, Kolkata 700048, District, North-24 Parganas.
AND
2. Sanghamitra Mandal alias Sanghamitra Pandit, aged about 44 years, wife of Malay Kumar Mandal, daughter of Lalit Mohan Pandit, resident of E 4/1, Type II, G D Block, Purba Abasan, 1582/2, Rajdanga Main Road, Police Station Kasba, Kolkata – 700107
3. The Parties decided to part their ways and seek mutually consented divorce through amicable settlement upon withdrawal of all cases on the following terms and conditions:-
1 Payment: Malay Kumar Mandal ("Petitioner-Husband") shall pay a total sum of Rupees one crore seventy lakh (Rs 1,70,00,000/-) to his wife Sanghamitra Mandal ("Respondent Wife") towards full and final settlement of all disputes between the parties in the following matter:
(a) Rupees Two Lakh Seventy Thousand only (Rs 2, 70,000/-) have been paid on the date of signing of this MOU, i.e. 23.11.2021 through NEFT.
(b) Rupees Fifty Lakhs only (Rs. 50,00,000/-) by RTGS/ NEFT payment on the date of filing of the petition seeking divorce by mutual consent. The Parties shall endeavour to file the Mutual Divorce Petition within 4 weeks from the signing of this MOU.
(c) Rupees Fifty Lakh only (Rs. 50,00,000/-) by RTGS/NEFT on the date of recording of the joint statement in the Mutual Divorce Petition, as and when fixed by the Competent Court.
(d) Rupees Sixty Seven Lakhs Thirty Thousand only (Rs.
67,30,000/-) by RTGS/NEFT on the filing of quashing petitions /withdrawal applications in (i) Kasba PS FIR No. 379 of 2011 filed on 24.08.2011 (BGR No. 5348 of 2011) (ACGR 423 of 2011) [SC 14 (11) of 2018] pending before 9th JM, Alipore, South 24 pgs filed by Respondent-Wife,
(ii) C-9974 of 2011 filed on 28.09.2011 pending before 5th JM, Alipore, South 24 pgs filed by Respondent-wife, and (iii) AC 46 of 2018 pending before 5th JM, Alipore, South 24 pgs 15 filed by Respondent-Wife.
2. Property: That the Parties resided together at E-4/1 Type II, Purba, GD Block, Rajdanga Main Road, Kolkata- 700107 including car parking ('Property') before their separation.
3The Petitioner-Husband is the allottee of the said Property and the Petitioner - Husband shall take all necessary and requisite steps in accordance with law and municipal procedures for the transfer of absolute right, title and interest in the Property in the name of the Respondent -wife within a period of 6 months of signing of this MOU. The costs towards stamp duty and registration fee for execution of necessary deeds and documents would be borne by the Petitioner-Husband. The Petitioner-Husband further undertakes to clear all pending dues in relation to the said Property and shall keep the Respondent-Wife indemnified in that regard. The Petitioner-Husband further undertakes that possession, which is already with the Respondent-Wife, of the said Property would be handed over to the Respondent-Wife free from all kinds of encumbrances, lien, municipal dues, penalties, attachment by decree of any court etc.
3. Custody: The Parties have two children born out of wedlock- Eeshan Mandal and Anusha Mandal. The Respondent-Wife shall be solely responsible for the expenses towards food, educational expenses, medical expenses, upbringing, safety and security of the children.
4. Withdrawal of matters: The Parties will take necessary steps and withdraw their respective cases and till the time of implementation of the terms of this MOU, the respective legal proceedings of the Parties would be stayed and the Parties shall file necessary application for stay of proceedings, if required. It is made clear that the withdrawal of the matters will be upon the payment of the entire settlement amount. It is made clear that joint application for withdrawal will be filed in all cases as listed herein below. If the Respondent-Wife fails to withdraw all cases and allegations against the Petitioner- Husband after receiving the entire settlement amount, the same is liable to be returned to the Petitioner- Husband by the Respondent-Wife within one week thereafter. All pending cases between the Parties hereto, whoever of them may have initiated it, will be withdrawn by her/him and will not be proceeded with for any other purposes. If any proceeding is lying dismissed for default, the same will not be restored and if, in spite of all these, such proceeding gets restored by any means, the same will also be similarly withdrawn by the Party by whom it was initiated. The matters to be withdrawn by the Parties are as follows:
i. Kasba PS FIR No. 379 of 2011 filed on 24.08.2011 (BGR No. 5348 of 2011) (ACGR 423 of 2011) [SC 14 (11) of 2018] pending before 9th JM, Alipore, South 24 pgs filed by the Respondent-wife.
ii. C-9974 of 2011 filed on 28.09.2011 pending before 5th 4 JM, Alipore, South 24 pgs filed by the Respondent-wife.
iii. Mat Suit 2195 of 2012 (Mat Suit 36 of 2013) filed on 29.08.2012 pending before 3rd ADJ, Alipore, South 24 pgs filed by Petitioner-Husband.
iv. Misc. Case 10 of 2012 arising out of Mat Suit 2195 of 2012 pending before 3rd ADJ, Alipore, South 24 pgs filed by Petitioner-Husband.
v. Misc. Case 29 of 2014 filed on 24.06.2014 (arising out of Mat Suit 36 of 2013) pending before High Court of Kolkata filed by Respondent-Wife.
vi. MEX 19 of 2017 filed on 05.04.2017 pending before 5th JM, Alipore, South 24 pgs filed by the Respondent-wife.
vii. AC 46 of 2018 pending before 5th JM, Alipore, South 24 pgs 15 filed by Respondent-Wife.
viii. Criminal Appeal No. 62 of 2021 pending before 3rd Addn.
District Judge, Alipore, South 24 pgs filed by Petitioner- Husband.
ix. CRR 3382 of 2019 pending before High Court of Kolkata filed by Respondent-Wife.
5 The Petitioner-Husband undertakes to ensure that his family members shall file affidavits of undertaking to withdraw the money suits (which have been filed by the Petitioner-Husband’s relatives) i.e. MS No 50 of 2014, MS No 193 of 2015 and MS No. 26 of 2017 pending before the 2nd Court of Ld. 2nd Sub Judge, Senior Division, Barasat to the effect that none of them has any claim present or future whether jointly or severally against the Respondent-Wife on any account whatsoever. The affidavits of undertaking to be filed by the relatives of the Petitioner-Husband shall be executed before the expiry of 15 days of signing of this MOU and would be filed along with the joint application to be filed by the Parties placing the MOU on record before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India.
6. All allegations levelled by the Parties against each other shall be deemed to have been withdrawn on implementation of the terms of this MOU.
7. Parties undertake not to file any case against each other or their family members whether civil or criminal within the territory of India and/or abroad before any court or authority arising out of their marriage, except for filing case for divorce by mutual consent. The Parties agree not to make any kind of defamatory allegations against 5 each other or their families in future.
8. The Parties agree that on the happening of the following events of default, Parties shall have the right to approach the competent court:
Default of the Petitioner – husband
a) If the Petitioner-Husband fails to make payment of any of the instalments as set out in clause 1 above.
b) If the Petitioner Husband fails to execute the deed and documents for transferring the said Property in favour of the Respondent-Wife.
c) If the relatives of the Petitioner-Husband fail to furnish the requisite affidavits of undertaking within 15 days of signing of this MOU.
Default of the Respondent-wife
a) If the Respondent-Wife fails/ refuses to grant divorce by mutual consent.
b) If the Respondent-Wife fails/ refuses to withdraw all the civil and criminal cases filed by her against the Petitioner-Husband in the courts below.
9. It is agreed upon by the Parties that no further maintenance or claim or any other proceedings for any relief whatsoever will ever be made either by Petitioner- Husband or Respondent-Wife, either personally or through anybody else and no such proceeding, even if instituted, will ever be entertained by any Court.
10. The children of the Parties shall have the option of staying with their mother i.e. Respondent-Wife and shall not make any claim whatsoever against their father i.e. Petitioner-Husband in respect to the residential rights in any property owned by Petitioner-Husband or make any monetary claims from the father/Petitioner-Husband.
11. It is agreed upon by the Parties that the son namely Eeshan Mandal would furnish an affidavit of undertaking that he would not claim any right, title or interest in the present or in future against his father, Malay Kumar Mandal i.e. Petitioner-Husband in respect of the properties owned by his father i.e. Petitioner-Husband. A similar undertaking shall also be given by the daughter namely Anusha Mandal through her mother i.e. Respondent-Wife being the natural guardian of the minor daughter. The affidavits of undertaking to be filed by the 6 son, Eeshan Mandal and daughter, Anusha Mandal, of the Petitioner-Husband shall be executed within 15 days of signing of this MOU and would be filed along with the joint application to be filed by the Parties placing the MOU on record before the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India. It is made clear that if the children of the Petitioner-Husband fail to provide their respective affidavits of undertaking this MOU, appropriate steps shall be taken by the Petitioner-Husband and the amount Rs.2,70,000/- transferred into the account of respondent wife on 23. 11.2021 shall stand duly adjusted towards monthly maintenance. It is agreed that the Petitioner- Husband shall not make any claim towards movable and immovable property in the future from the children.
12. The Parties agree and undertake to cooperate with each other towards fulfilling the obligations set out above and in particular co-operate with each other for filing joint applications/ quashing petitions and for execution of deedsand documents for transfer of the said Property.
13. Parties agree that the terms and conditions of the MOU shall be diligently pursued by the Parties and the mutual obligations be completed within a period of 8 months. In the event, which is beyond the control of the Parties, if completion is not possible within the period of eight months, the Parties shall file a requisite application for extension of time.” 3 During the course of the previous hearing before this Court, an adjournment was sought in order to enable Mr Rana Mukherjee, senior counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioner, to take instructions on clause 11 of the MoU. Senior counsel states after receiving instructions from the petitioner that it has been agreed that clause 11 shall not be retained in the MoU and shall accordingly be struck off.
4 We accordingly order and direct, by consent, that clause 11 of the MoU shall stand struck off from the terms of the settlement as agreed between the parties before this Court.
5 Consequent upon the deletion of clause 11, clauses 12 and 13 shall be re-
numbered as clauses 11 and 12, respectively. The settlement agreement is 7 accepted with the above modification.
6 With reference to the provisions contained in clause 4, which is extracted above, liberty is granted to the parties or any of them to move the competent High Court under Section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 for quashing of the criminal cases, after complying with the terms of the settlement.
7 The parties shall move the competent court for the first motion for a decree of divorce by mutual consent, within a period of one week of the date of receipt of a certified copy of this order.
8 In the event that the settlement is not implemented for any reason, the payment of Rs 2,70,000 which was made by the petitioner to the respondent shall be adjusted against the arrears of maintenance.
9 We also clarify that in view of deletion of clause 11 of the MoU, any affidavit which has been filed by the children in terms of clause 11 shall be of no consequence.
10 The decree shall be drawn by the Registry of this Court in terms of the MoU.
11 The Miscellaneous Application stands disposed of.
(SANJAY KUMAR-I) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR)
AR-CUM-PS COURT MASTER