Telangana High Court
Smt. Kommu Sravanthi vs Kommu Madhu on 4 June, 2020
Author: Shameem Akther
Bench: Shameem Akther
THE HON'BLE Dr. JUSTICE SHAMEEM AKTHER
Transfer Civil Miscellaneous Petition No.249 of 2019
ORDER:
This Transfer Civil Miscellaneous Petition, under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, is filed by the petitioner/wife, requesting to withdraw O.P.No.58 of 2019 from the Court of Senior Civil Judge, Suryapet, and transfer the same to the Family Court, Khammam, for trial and disposal, in accordance with law.
2. Heard the learned counsel for the petitioner/wife and perused the record.
3. The learned counsel for the petitioner/wife would contend that the marriage between the petitioner/wife and the respondent/husband was performed on 16.03.2017 at Ramachandrapuram Village, Maddirala Mandal, Suryapet District. The couple lived happily for two months and subsequently, the respondent/husband and his family members started harassing the petitioner/wife physically and mentally. On 23.05.2018, the respondent/husband went to house in drunken condition, quarrelled with the petitioner/wife and necked her out from her matrimonial house. Thereafter, the petitioner/wife went to her parents house at Khammam and started living there. Vexed with the attitude of the respondent/husband, the petitioner/wife filed a domestic violence case in D.V.C.No.69 of 2019 and a maintenance case in M.C.No.20 of 2019 before the Special Mobile Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Khammam, against the respondent/husband and his family members. As a counter blast, the respondent/husband filed the 2 Dr.SA, J Tr.CMP.No.249/2019 subject O.P.No.58 of 2019 before the Court of Senior Civil Judge, Suryapet, seeking divorce. It is difficult for the petitioner/wife to travel from Khammam to Suryapet, all alone, on each and every date of adjournment to defend the case at the Court at Suryapet. Further, the petitioner/wife has no financial capability to undertake travel from Khammam to Suryapet. Since a domestic violence case and a maintenance case filed by the petitioner/wife are pending in the Court at Khammam, it will be in the interest of the justice to withdraw the subject O.P.No.58 of 2019 from the Court of Senior Civil Judge, Suryapet, and transfer the same to the Family Court, Khammam and ultimately prayed to allow the Transfer Civil Miscellaneous Petition as prayed for.
4. Here, it is apt to refer to the decision of the erstwhile High Court of Judicature at Hyderabad for the State of Telangana and the State of Andhra Pradesh reported in Chejerla Srilakshmi Vs. Chejerla Ramesh Babu1, wherein, the erstwhile common High Court for the States of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, relying on various decisions of the Hon'ble Apex Court, held as under:
"The Apex Court took note of inconvenience being caused to the parties but not the inconvenience to the wife alone, considering the facts and circumstances of the case adverting to the earlier judgment rendered in "Ram Gulam Pandit v. Umesh J. Prasad" and "Rajwinder Kaur v. Balwinder Singh" (as referred in the judgment) and opined that all the authorities are based on the facts of the respective cases and they do not lay down any particular law which operates as a precedent. Thereafter, it noted that taking advantage of the leniency shown to the ladies by this Court, number of transfer petitions are filed by women and, therefore, it is 1 2018 (4) ALD 162 3 Dr.SA, J Tr.CMP.No.249/2019 required to consider each petition on merit. Then, the Court dwell upon the fact situation and directed that the husband shall pay all travel and stay expenses to the wife and her companion for each and every occasion whenever she was required to attend the Court. From the aforesaid decision, it is quite vivid that the Court felt that the transfer petitions are to be considered on their own merits and not to be disposed of in a routine manner."
5. In the instant case, the grounds putforth by the petitioner/wife to transfer the subject O.P.No.58 of 2019 filed by the respondent/husband are that it is inconvenient for her to travel from Khammam to Suryapet to defend the subject O.P.No.58 of 2019 and that she has no financial capability to undertake the said travel. While dealing with similar situations, this Court and the Hon'ble Apex Court were of the opinion that in a petition to transfer a case from one Court to another Court under the provisions of Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, it is the inconvenience of both the parties that is to be taken into consideration, but not the inconvenience of the wife alone and that transfer petitions are to be considered on their own merits and not to be disposed of in a routine manner. Normally this Court is inclined to allow the applications of this nature, where there are genuine reasons/circumstances to transfer the case from one Court to another. As far as the facts and circumstances of the instant case are concerned, the inconvenience said to be caused to the petitioner/wife to attend the Court at Suryapet cannot be a ground to grant the relief sought by her in this petition. There shall be substantial reasons to transfer a case from one Court to another. It cannot be done on mere asking. It is pertinent to state that the 4 Dr.SA, J Tr.CMP.No.249/2019 parameters governing to determine a domestic violence case as well as a maintenance case filed under Section 125 of Cr.P.C. are distinct from the subject O.P.No.58 of 2019 filed for divorce. All the cases are required to be tried and disposed of by different Courts. So also, the Courts before which the said cases are pending, have jurisdiction to entertain the subject matter of the said cases. There will be no conflict of decisions if the subject cases are determined by the Courts before which they are pending. Merely because it is inconvenient to the petitioner/wife to travel from Khammam to Suryapet to defend the subject O.P.No.58 of 2019, it cannot be a ground to transfer the subject O.P.No.58 of 2019 to the Family Court at Khammam. There are no other justifiable grounds in this petition. Under these circumstances, this Court is of the view that grounds raised by the petitioner/wife do not justify the relief sought by her in this petition. The Transfer Civil Miscellaneous Petition is devoid of merit and is liable to be dismissed.
6. In the result, the Transfer Civil Miscellaneous Petition is dismissed. There shall be no order as to costs.
Miscellaneous petitions, if any, pending in this Transfer CMP, shall stand closed.
_______________________ Dr. SHAMEEM AKTHER, J 04th June, 2020 Bvv