Madras High Court says wife has right to know husband’s salary to claim proper maintenance

Chennai, Jan 19: The Madras High Court has recently said that a wife has the right to know her husband’s salary details to seek maintenance in case of matrimonial dispute. A man had approached the Madras High Court against a State Information Commission (SIC) order asking his employer to share the salary details of the petitioner with his wife. However, the court rejected his plea and upheld the SIC order.

Due to the ongoing marital dispute, the petitioner’s wife had sought maintenance from him. To determine the amount of maintenance payable to her, she had approached her husband’s employer under the Right to Information Act seeking information about his service and salary. However, her request was rejected after her husband raised objections.

Wife contacted SIC, got favorable order

The woman then approached the SIC, which eventually passed an order directing the man’s employer to provide the information sought by his wife. In 2020, the man challenged the SIC order in the Madras High Court. After hearing the case, the High Court refused to cancel the SIC order.

In his order, Justice GR Swaminathan said that the income of the petitioner would decide the quantum of maintenance payable to his wife as matrimonial proceedings are pending between them. Rejecting the husband’s claim that his wife was a third party in the case, the judge said the woman would be unable to claim proper maintenance unless she knew the details about her husband’s salary .

Justice Swaminathan cited an order passed by the Madhya Pradesh High Court which had held that the wife is entitled to know about her husband’s salary, and dismissed the husband’s plea, thus upholding the SIC order.