PIL defends women claiming maintenance for minor sons

The Bombay high court on Thursday accepted a public interest litigation (PIL) that has been filed challenging a government resolution (GR) whereby a woman has to pay court fees while claiming maintenance for her minor son.

A division bench of Chief Justice of Bombay high court Manjula Chellur and Justice M.S. Sonak was hearing the PIL filed by Majlis Manch stating that a GR violated Article 15 (3) (nothing shall prevent the state from making any special provision for women and children) of the Indian Constitution, and sought directions from the court to grant exemption to women litigants from payment of court fees in accordance with the GR dated October 1, 1994.

The petitioner’s contention was that the registry of the family court in Bandra insisted upon the deposit of appropriate court fees for filing applications for maintenance of minor sons of women litigants, which was against the essence of the scheme provided by the government for women, granting them exemption from paying court fees in cases of maintenance, property disputes, violence and divorce. The registrar of the family court, on the other hand, justified its stand before the high court of levying court fees on women seeking maintenance only for their minor sons, while daughters were exempt.

The reply filed by the registrar stated that women were exempted from paying court fees with the object of promoting women’s welfare.

The registrar, in his reply, said that the state had created a special class on the basis of injustices caused to women. The reply said, “The said class is not classified on the basis of age and, therefore, minor girls are included in the exemption while minor males are not.”

The reply further said that when a woman filed an application for maintenance for her minor son, the same was filed in a representative capacity as a guardian to the minor son. A special class for women had been created, whether minor or major, and the same now could not be read to include men, whether minor or major, the reply said.