AIR 1963 GUJARAT 152 ::(1963) 4 GujLR 514 ::ILR (1963) Guj 650

Gujarat High Court

Hon'ble Judge(s): V. B. Raju , J

Hindu Marriage Act (25 of 1955) , S.13, S.21— Petition for divorce against wife on ground of adultery - Claim for damages against adulterer cannot be joined. There is no provision in the Hindu Marriage Act whereby in a petition for divorce against the wife on the ground of adultery the husband can claim damages against the alleged adulterer. Section 21 of the Act does not make O. 2, Rr. 2 and 3, Civil P. C., applicable to such cases. In the absence of clear provision, such a joinder cannot be permitted when one is a claim of the nature of a suit for damages against the adulterer and the other is a petition under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. Divorce is not a civil remedy but a special remedy.(Para 4 5 7) Forms attached to the Divorce Act (1869) are only to be used as far as possible in a petition under the Hindu Marriage Act. As the Hindu Marriage Act makes no provision for a claim for damages against the alleged adulterer, such a claim does not lie simply because in the form attached to the Divorce Act (1869) claim for damages is shown.(Para 4) Article 21 of Sch. 2 of the Bombay Court-fees Act (1959) in which provision is made for payment of court-fee with regard to a claim for damages cannot widen the scope of the Hindu Marriage Act.(Para 6) ....