Reema Salkan vs Sumer Singh Salkan on 25 September, 2018
16. The principle invoked by the High Court for
determination of monthly maintenance amount payable
to the appellant on the basis of notional minimum income
of the respondent as per the current minimum wages in
Delhi, in our opinion, is untenable. We are of the
considered opinion that regard must be had to the living
standard of the respondent and his family, his past
conduct in successfully protracting the disposal of the
maintenance petition filed in the year 2003, until 2015;
coupled with the fact that a specious and unsubstantiated
plea has been taken by him that he is unemployed from
2010, despite the fact that he is highly qualified and an
able-bodied person; his monthly income while working in
Canada in the year 2010 was over Rs 1,77,364; and that
this Court in Reema Salkan v. Sumer Singh
26
Salkan [Reema Salkan v. Sumer Singh Salkan, (2019) 12
SCC 312] has prima facie found that the cause of justice
would be subserved if the appellant is granted an interim
maintenance of Rs 20,000 per month commencing from
1-11-2014. At this distance of time, keeping in mind the
spiraling inflation rate and high cost of living index today,
to do complete justice between the parties, we are
inclined to direct that the respondent shall pay a sum of
Rs 20,000 per month to the appellant towards the
maintenance amount with effect from January 2010 and
at the rate of Rs 25,000 per month with effect from 1-6-
2018 until further orders. We order accordingly.