A bench of Justice Kurien Joseph and Justice R.K. Agrawal has exercised its special powers of doing complete justice under Article 142 of the Constitution and has granted mutual consent divorce to an advocate couple, waiving of the minimum cooling off period of 6 months required under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act. This order has been passed by the Supreme Court in the case of B.A. Vani v. Union of India & Anr. [W.P. (C) No. 530 of 2016, decided on 07.11.2016]. Full order is reproduced below.
In this case, the petitioner wife and the second-respondent husband, both of whom are advocates, had been living separately for about 7 years and there had been several rounds of litigation between them. The Supreme Court had appointed an amicus curiae in the case, who had recommended to the court that it was “an eminently fit case where this Court could invoke its jurisdiction under Article 142 of the Constitution of India for waiving off the six months’ period provided under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act in view of the long separation of seven years between the parties and the several rounds of litigation the parties have gone through.”
The Supreme Court accepted the suggestion and in exercise of its powers under Article 142 of the Constitution, and directed that “…the marriage between the petitioner and the second respondent stand dissolved by way of a decree of divorce on mutual consent, under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act”.
Read the full order of the Supreme Court:
