New Delhi: A Constitution Bench on Monday ruled that the Supreme Court can dissolve a marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown by dispensing with the need for the waiting period as required under the marital laws.
The Supreme Court’s five-judge Constitution Bench held that it can dissolve a marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of the marriage by invoking special power granted to it under Article 143 of the Constitution and that the mandatory waiting period of six months for divorce through mutual consent can be dispensed with subject to conditions.
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Thursday 27 Feb. 2025
Article 142 of the Constitution deals with the enforcement of decrees and orders of the apex court to do “complete justice” in any matter pending before it.
“We have…. held that it is possible for this court to dissolve the marriage on the ground of irretrievable breakdown of marriage,” the bench, also comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, A S Oka, Vikram Nath and J K Maheshwari, said.
The Supreme Court delivered the verdict on a batch of petitions relating to the exercise of its vast powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to dissolve broken-down marriages between consenting couples without referring them to family courts for protracted judicial proceedings to get the decree of separation.
The judgment relates to a 2014 case filed in the top court, titled Shilpa Sailesh vs. Varun Sreenivasan, where the parties sought a divorce under Article 142 of the Indian Constitution.
Under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the procedure to obtain a divorce by mutual consent is laid down. Section 13B (1) states that both parties can file a petition for dissolution of their marriage by presenting a decree of divorce to the district court, on the grounds that they have been living separately for a year or more or that they have not been able to live together or have mutually agreed to dissolve their marriage.
Further, under Section 13B (2) of the HMA, both parties seeking divorce have to wait between 6 to 18 months from the date on which they presented their petition to obtain the divorce decree. The six-month period is given so that the parties have ample time to withdraw their plea.
After the passage of the mandated period and hearing both parties, if the court is satisfied, it may conduct an inquiry and pass a decree of divorce, dissolving the marriage with effect from the date of the decree. However, these provisions apply when at least one year has elapsed since the marriage took place.
Additionally, divorce can be sought by either spouse on grounds like adultery, cruelty, desertion, religious conversion, insanity, leprosy, venereal disease, renunciation, and presumption of death.
In circumstances of exceptional hardship or depravity, a divorce petition may be allowed under Section 14, even before the lapse of one year since marriage.
