Unmarried Daughter Can Claim Marriage Expense: Chhattisgarh High Court

An unmarried daughter can claim marriage expense, ruled the Chhattisgarh High Court, under the provisions of the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act of 1956. The petition on this was filed by a 35-year-old woman named Rajeshwari, who is from the Durg district of Chhattisgarh. This decision was taken by the division bench of the high court in Bilaspur.

The case was being heard by Justices Goutam Bhaduri and Sanjay S Agrawal. On March 21, they allowed her plea of hearing by admitting that an unmarried daughter can claim the amount of her marriage from her parents under the provision. This was told to the media by Rajeshwari's advocate AK Tiwari.

This order was deduced by the bench citing the order of April 22, 2016, wherein the Principal Judge of the family court in Durg had passed an order by remanding the matter to the family court for adjudication. This was ordered under Section 3 (b) (ii) of the Act of 1956. The court has asked both sides to appear before the family court.

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Unmarried Daughter Can Claim Marriage Expense

The 2016 matter discussed was brought to legal light by the daughter of an employee of the Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) Bhunu Rami. It was filed under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act of 1956. The daughter had claimed maintenance of around Rs 20 lakh to be given to her as a marriage expense.

At the time, on January 7, 2016, the family court had dismissed the plea stating that there was no provision under the Act. Rajeshwari in her plea said that her father is going to retire soon and will be receiving Rs 55 lakh as retirement due. In the plea, she asked the court to direct the father's employers to release a part of his retirement dues, Rs 20 lakh, in her favour.

Not only this, she challenged the family court's dismissal and took the matter to the high court. There she stated that as per the law, an unmarried woman can demand the expenses of her marriage from her father and these expense comes under the purview of maintenance. Her advocate said, "This is the first-of-its-kind order by the high court of Chhattisgarh."

The maintenance bit was discussed by the HC under section 20 (3) of the Act that creates an obligation for a person to maintain his or her aged or infirm parent, or a daughter who is unmarried and cannot maintain themselves. The court has asked both the daughter and the parents to appear before the family court on April 25.