Andhra Pradesh High Court - Amravati
Burra Varalakshmi vs Burra Veerababu on 5 November, 2024
APHC010391662024
IN THE HIGH COURT OF ANDHRA PRADESH
AT AMARAVATI [3397]
(Special Original Jurisdiction)
TUESDAY ,THE FIFTH DAY OF NOVEMBER
TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY FOUR
PRESENT
THE HONOURABLE SRI JUSTICE VENUTHURUMALLI GOPALA
KRISHNA RAO
TRANS. CIVIL MISC.PETITION NO: 302/2024
Between:
Burra Varalakshmi ...PETITIONER
AND
Burra Veerababu ...RESPONDENT
Counsel for the Petitioner:
1. YADAVALLI RAMESH
Counsel for the Respondent:
1.
The Court made the following:
ORDER:
Today when the matter is taken up for hearing, learned counsel for the petitioner has represented that the proof of service memo along with the postal track consignment sheet is filed before the Registry and the same is placed on the record. As per the said postal track consignment sheet, the registered notice sent to the respondent by the learned counsel for the petitioner was served on him on 09.10.2024. Therefore, service held sufficient.
2. The petitioner/wife filed the present petition under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, seeking to withdraw F.C.O.P.No.356 of 2024 on the file of the Judge, Family Court-Cum-V Additional District and Session Court, Visakhapatnam and transfer the same to the Senior Civil Judge Court, Pithapuram.
3. The case of the petitioner in brief is as follows:
I. The petitioner is the legally wedded wife of the respondent and their marriage has been performed at Annavaram on 14.06.2006 as per Hindu rites and customs. During their wedlock, the petitioner and the respondent were blessed with two children aged about 15 years and 14 years respectively and her children are studying at intermediate and 10th class at Kakinada District. In view of the matrimonial disputes between both the parties, the petitioner/wife along with her children is staying at her parents' house at Uppada Village, vU Kothapalli Mandal, Kakinada District. The petitioner pleaded that she had filed a Maintenance Case vide M.C.No.04 of 2024 and also filed a Domestic Violence Case vide D.V.C.(SR).No.1488 of 2024, on the file of the Judicial Magistrate of First Class, Pithapuram, against the respondent and his family members and the same are pending for adjudication. The petitioner contend that to cause inconvenience to her, the respondent/husband has filed F.C.O.P.No.356 of 2024 on the file of the Judge, Family Court-Cum-V Additional District and Session Court, Visakhapatnam under Section 13(1)(ia) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 seeking for dissolution of marriage.
II. Learned counsel for the petitioner further contended that the petitioner being a woman having two children aged about 15 years and 14 years respectively, depending upon her parents, it is very difficult for her to travel at a distance more than 100Kms from Pithapuram to Visakhapatnam without any male support and that she was constrained to file the present petition against the respondent/husband seeking to withdraw F.C.O.P.No.356 of 2024 on the file of the Judge, Family Court- Cum-V Additional District and Session Court, Visakhapatnam and transfer the same to the Senior Civil Judge Court, Pithapuram.
4. Heard Sri Yadavalli Ramesh, learned counsel for the petitioner. None appeared for the respondent. Perused the material available on record.
5. The material on record prima facie shows that, in view of the matrimonial disputes between both the parties, the petitioner/wife along with her children is staying at her parents' house at Uppada Village, U Kothapalli Mandal, Kakinada District and her children are studying at intermediate and 10th class at Kakinada District. The petitioner contend that she had filed a Maintenance Case and a Domestic Violence Case before competent Courts at Pithapuram against the respondent and his family members and the respondent is attending the Court proceedings in the aforesaid cases. The petitioner further contended that the distance in between Pithapuram and Visakhapatnam is approximately more than 100 Kms and that the petitioner/ wife is constrained to file the present Transfer Petition.
6. The Apex Court in a case of GEETA HEERA Vs HARISH CHANDER HEERA 1, held by considering the fact that "if a wife does not have sufficient funds to visit the place where the divorce petition is filed by her husband, then the transfer petition filed by the wife may be allowed."
7. The Apex Court in a case of N.C.V. Aishwarya Vs A.S.Saravana Karthik Sha2 held as follows:
"9. The cardinal principle for exercise of power under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure is that the ends of justice should demand the transfer of the suit, appeal or other proceeding. In matrimonial matters, wherever Courts are called upon to consider the plea of transfer, the Courts have to take into consideration the economic soundness of both the parties, the social strata of the spouses and their behavioural pattern, their standard of life prior to the marriage and subsequent thereto and the circumstances of both the parties in eking out their livelihood and under whose protective umbrella they are seeking their sustenance to life. Given the prevailing socio- economic paradigm in the Indian society, generally, it is the wife's convenience which must be looked at while considering transfer."
1
(2000) 10 SCC 304 2 2022 LiveLaw (SC) 627
8. On considering the submissions made by the learned counsel for the petitioner and in view of the ratio laid down in the aforesaid case laws that in matrimonial proceedings, the convenience of the wife has to be considered than that of the inconvenience of the husband. Therefore, this Court is of the considered view that there are grounds to consider the request of the petitioner/wife to withdraw F.C.O.P.No.356 of 2024 on the file of the Judge, Family Court-Cum-V Additional District and Session Court, Visakhapatnam and transfer the same to the Senior Civil Judge Court, Pithapuram.
9. In the result, the present petition is allowed and F.C.O.P.No.356 of 2024 on the file of the Judge, Family Court-Cum-V Additional District and Session Court, Visakhapatnam, is hereby withdrawn and transferred to the Senior Civil Judge Court, Pithapuram. The Judge, Family Court-Cum-V Additional District and Session Court, Visakhapatnam, shall transmit the case record in F.C.O.P.No.356 of 2024 to the Senior Civil Judge Court, Pithapuram duly indexed as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of two (02) weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of the order. There shall be no order as to costs.
As a sequel, miscellaneous petitions, if any pending and the Interim order granted earlier, if any, shall stand closed.
_______________________________ JUSTICE V.GOPALA KRISHNA RAO Date: 05.11.2024 SRT