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8. This being one aspect of the matter, the husband also denied knowledge of the proceedings before the Family Court from 19/12/2020 onwards till the passing of the judgment on 30/01/2021. According to him, his counsel went to the office of the Counselor on 22/12/2020 and was informed that the report had been submitted on Page 5 19/12/2020 to the Family Court. He claimed that his counsel enquired with the Bench Clerk of the Family Court and was told that all the cases fixed on 19/12/2020 had been posted on 05/02/2021. He then stated that his counsel appeared before the Family Court on 05/02/2021 but did not find the subject case in the cause list. According to him, it was only then that an enquiry was made and it came to light that case was disposed of by the Family Court on 30/01/2021 itself.

These claims of ignorance by the husband also do not merit acceptance. The issue is whether he took steps to track the progress of the case and whether he had the means to know what was happening. He cannot be permitted to rely on his own carelessness and lack of diligence and conveniently claim ignorance at this stage.

The orders of the Family Court which were uploaded online assume great relevance in this regard. The order dated 19/12/2020 was uploaded on the website of the Family Court. Therein, it was recorded that the husband was set ex parte and that the case was adjourned to 02/01/2021 for framing of the points for determination. However, a dispute is raised as to when this order was uploaded on the website. Mr. N. Ibotombi, learned senior counsel, contended that this order was uploaded only on a later date. This contention warrants rejection as RK Tamphasana Devi, the Bench Reader of the Family Court, Manipur, filed affidavit dated 05/10/2021 stating that she had uploaded the case status of the subject case on each and every date, including 19/12/2020. The learned Judge, Family Court, Manipur, also certified to this effect by his letter dated Page 6 29/10/2021, wherein he stated that his Bench Clerk had updated the daily business report in the subject case on 19/12/2020 and that an affidavit to that effect was given by her after taking verbal permission from him. Apart from this, the Central Project Coordinator of this Court communicated with the National Informatics Centre and it was confirmed that the proceedings in relation to the subject case were uploaded on 19/12/2020 itself. Therefore, the information as to the husband being set ex parte was available on the website on 19/12/2020 itself and once it was in the public domain, the husband cannot claim ignorance of the same. Further, there is no evidence of the learned counsel for the husband taking any of the usual steps to ascertain the status of the case when he went to the Family Court, Manipur, to check on its next date of hearing. The claim of the husband is that his counsel merely enquired with the Bench Clerk as to what had happened on 19/12/2020 and was told that all the cases had been adjourned to 05/02/2021. There is not even a mention of the counsel verifying the status of the case in the records maintained by the Family Court which would have been available for perusal by the counsel.