The Supreme Court of India has held that a matrimonial appeal challenging a divorce decree cannot be dismissed or decided without evaluating its correctness on the merits, even if the husband has failed to clear arrears of maintenance.
A Division Bench comprising Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice S.V.N. Bhatti set aside an order of the High Court of Judicature at Madras which had disposed of an appeal solely on the grounds of non-payment of maintenance arrears. Remanding the matter back to the High Court, the Supreme Court directed that the appeal be considered expeditiously on all issues.
Background of the Case
The matrimonial dispute dates back to a divorce suit filed by the appellant-husband, Hemanand. On March 1, 2017, the Family Court decreed the suit in favor of the husband, granting the divorce. This decision of the Family Court was subsequently challenged in an appeal before the High Court of Judicature at Madras under Civil Miscellaneous Appeal (C.M.A.) No. 3566 of 2019.
However, the Madras High Court did not adjudicate upon the validity or merits of the divorce decree. Instead, on January 28, 2025, the High Court disposed of the appeal solely on the ground that the appellant-husband had failed to clear the outstanding arrears of maintenance. This High Court order, along with a subsequent order in a review application (REV APLC No. 110/2025) dated November 28, 2025, was challenged by the husband before the Supreme Court.
Submissions of the Parties
During the proceedings before the Supreme Court, the appellant-husband was represented by Senior Advocate Mr. R. Anand Padmanabhan, along with Advocate-on-Record Mr. T. Hari Hara Sudhan and other advocates. The respondent-wife, Gausalya, was represented by Advocate Mr. Mayilsamy K and Advocate-on-Record Mr. Naijal Kumar P, among others.
It was submitted before the Bench that as of the date of the Supreme Court hearing, the entire arrears of maintenance had been paid by the appellant-husband (noted as “allegedly” in the revised order and “admittedly” in the signed order placed on file). In light of these circumstances, the learned counsel for both parties reached an agreement to set aside the High Court’s impugned order and have the matter remanded for a decision on its merits.
The Court’s Analysis
The Supreme Court examined the High Court’s treatment of the matrimonial appeal. The Bench observed that the appeal filed before the High Court directly challenged the decree of divorce, meaning the core task of the High Court was to evaluate the legal and factual correctness of that decree.
Criticizing the summarily decided appeal, the Supreme Court observed:
“The High Court has not considered the validity of the said decree on merits. Even if the arrears of maintenance was not paid, it was no reason to dismiss the appeal without adjudging the correctness of the decree.”
The Decision
After condoning the delay in filing and refiling, and granting leave to appeal, the Supreme Court, with the mutual agreement of the counsel for both parties, set aside the impugned Madras High Court order dated January 28, 2025.
The Apex Court remanded the case to the Madras High Court with directions to hear the matter afresh:
“we set aside the impugned order dated 28.01.2025 and remand the matter(s) to the High Court for considering the appeal being C.M.A. No. 3566 of 2019 in accordance with law, most expeditiously, on all issues that may be raised by the parties.”
The Supreme Court allowed the appeal in these terms and disposed of all pending applications.
Case Details
- Case Title: Hemanand v. Gausalya
- Case No.: Civil Appeal No(s). of 2026 (Arising out of SLP(C) No(s). /2026) (@ Diary No. 1577/2026)
- Bench: Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice S.V.N. Bhatti
- Date: May 08, 2026
