Irretrievable breakdown no ground for divorce, says SC

The Supreme Court rejected a man's divorce plea on Wednesday, as the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, does not recognise "irretrievable breakdown" as a ground for divorce.

A bench of justices Markandey Katju and VS Sirpurkar rejected the husband's divorce plea saying, no court, including SC, is empowered to issue a decree for divorce on this ground, as it would amount to amending the Hindu Marriage Act, a job that is vested with the legislature alone.

A law can be amended only by legislature and not by judicial verdict, judges said. Section 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act provides several grounds for granting divorce such as cruelty, adultery, desertion, but irretrievable breakdown of marriage is not one, the judges noted.

The observation came on a husband's plea for divorce saying the apex court had in several cases issued the decree of divorce on the ground of "irretrievable breakdown".

But the court disagreed with him, explaining, "In our opinion, those cases have not taken into consideration the legal position which we have mentioned above, and hence they are not precedents. A mere direction of the court without considering the legal position is not a precedent."

On June 17 last year, the Supreme Court had taken exception to certain aspects of the Hindu Marriage Act, saying the law was responsible for rise in divorce cases. The Act has broken more homes than united them, a bench of justices Arijit Pasayat and GS Singhvi had said. "Even at the time of marriage, anticipatory divorce petitions are being filed," they said.

Faced with severe criticism of the existing Act, the Centre last year said it was securing the opinion of NGOs and government agencies concerned on amending the Hindu Marriage Act.

Rakesh Bhatnagar/ DNA-Daily News & Analysis Source: 3D Syndication

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