On the question of quantum of amount of maintenance to be determined, the Court observed that the Court below held that a proper amount of maintenance needs to be awarded and considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, the Court found that Rs. 3,000/- would be at least minimum amount of maintenance for the wife, required to make her living life with minimum means as a human being and Rs. 1,000/towards the minor son. While, it is true that the Court below while considering the aspect of maintenance in terms of amount from the angle of minimum needs to survive as a human being, did not discuss either the source of income or the current income of the applicant, in the considered opinion of the Court in cases of maintenance where the marriage is admitted by the parties and a separate living is also admitted and no evidence is forthcoming as to whether the husband ever made any effort to bring back the wife to make a happy living, it is always presumable that the husband had chosen voluntarily to desert the wife. In the social fabric of our society, the husband is duty-bound to maintain the wife and a child born out of wedlock. Merely because, the assessment of income has not been made, the maintenance cannot be refused. In modern times looking at the price index, I find that Rs. 3,000/- is too paltry a sum for an adult person to survive with minimum respectable living means and Rs. 1,000/- is too less a sum for upbringing of a child. However, since the opposite party no. 2 has not come up for any enhancement of the amount of maintenance, suffice it to hold that there is no error much less a legal one in the order passed by the Principal Judge, Family Court.
