Loan repayments can’t override spousal duty: SC

The Supreme Court of India increased a woman’s monthly maintenance from ₹15,000 to ₹25,000, ruling that a husband’s loan repayments cannot override his legal duty to support his spouse. The court stressed dignity, fairness, and adequate financial support

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has enhanced the monthly maintenance payable to a woman from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000, holding that a husband’s financial commitments, such as loan repayments for asset creation, cannot take precedence over his statutory obligation to maintain his spouse.

A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and AG Masih passed the order while allowing an appeal filed by Deepa Joshi against her estranged husband, Gaurav Joshi, challenging the adequacy of maintenance fixed by courts below. The apex court modified a June 26, 2025, order of the Uttarakhand High Court, which had earlier enhanced the maintenance from Rs 8,000 to Rs 15,000 per month.

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In its order, the Justice Karol-led Bench noted that the husband, employed as a Manager with Canara Bank, was drawing a gross monthly income of Rs 1,15,670 and had a regular source of earnings.

It also recorded that the wife has no independent source of income and has been living separately shortly after the marriage. “Repayments of loans, particularly where such repayments result in creation or acquisition of assets, partake the character of capital investment and cannot be equated with essential or unavoidable expenditure,” the top court observed.

It added that such financial commitments, being voluntary in nature, “cannot be accorded precedence over the statutory and legally enforceable obligation of maintenance”. The Justice Karol-led Bench said that while determining maintenance, a balance must be struck between the financial capacity of the husband and the reasonable needs of the wife. “The obligation of the husband to maintain his spouse is a primary and continuing duty, which must be discharged in a manner that enables the wife to live with dignity,” the apex court said.

Referring to settled legal principles, the Supreme Court reiterated that maintenance should not be illusory and must be fair, reasonable, and commensurate with the status of the parties. The Justice Karol-led Bench found that the courts below had placed considerable reliance on deductions from the husband’s salary, including loan repayments, which had the effect of reducing the maintenance amount.

However, it held that such deductions could not substantially dilute the husband’s liability, especially when they contributed to asset creation. “We are of the opinion that a sum of Rs 25,000 per month would be just, fair and reasonable in the facts of the present case,” the Justice Karol-led Bench said.

Accordingly, the Supreme Court enhanced the maintenance to Rs 25,000 per month, payable from the date of the original application. It directed that arrears, if any, be cleared within three months and that the monthly maintenance be paid on or before the 7th day of each calendar month.

The proceedings arose from a maintenance plea filed by the wife under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, after she alleged neglect and harassment and claimed she had no means to sustain herself. The Family Court had initially granted Rs 8,000 per month, which was later enhanced by the Uttarakhand High Court before the matter reached the apex court.