Madan Lal vs Meena on 30 July, 1986
23. Thirdly, a reference may usefully be
made in this behalf to the provisions of
Section 21 of the Hindu Marriage Act which
states that subject to other provisions contained in this Act, and to such rules as the
High Court may make in this behalf, all
proceedings under this Act, shall be regulated, as far as may be by the Code of Civil
Proceedure, 1908. The Punjab and Haryana
High Court had also an occasion to consider a
somewhat similar question in the case of
Madan Lal v. Meena . Though the question which directly arose there was one of granting relief to the wife under Section 24 pending an application under Order 9, Rule 13 for setting aside the ex parte decree, referring to the object and the rationale of the provisions of Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, it was held that to obviate against the financial handicap of a
party to the litigation the provisions of Section 24 of the Act can be invoked even during the pendency of the application under Order 9, Rule 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Thus, having regard to the object of Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, and having regard to the ratio of the above mentioned 3 cases, viz. the decision of this Court , and , I am of the view that the provisions of Section 24 can be invoked by a spouse even during the pendency of an application under Order 9, Rule 4 of the Code of Civil Procedure. In the facts of this case, therefore, the wife is entitled to initiate proceedings under Section 24 of the Act even during the pendency of the husband's application for restoration of his petition which was dismissed on 28th November 1985.