Rameshwar Singh Malik JUDGMENT
Rameshwar Singh Malik, J.
1. Applicant-wife, by way of instant transfer application under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure (for short 'CPC'), seeks transfer of a petition under Section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 ('the Act' for short) titled as Gurjeet Singh v. Satnam Kaur filed by the respondent-husband from SAS Nagar (Mohali) to Moga.
2. Notice of motion was issued.
3. As per office report dated 11.05.2017, service is complete. However, neither anybody has come present on behalf of the respondent to oppose the present transfer application nor any request for pass over has been made.
4. Heard learned counsel for the applicant.
5. It has gone undisputed before this Court that the applicant-wife, along with her minor child, is living with her parents at Moga. Since the applicant-wife is not working, she is dependent on her parents. Respondent-husband is not paying any amount of maintenance either for the applicant-wife or for the minor child. Distance between Mohali and Moga is more than 150 kilometers. Other litigations between the parties, at the instance of the applicant-wife, are also pending at Moga.
6. In view of the abovesaid undisputed fact situation of the case, this Court feels no hesitation to conclude that it is just and expedient to transfer the petition under Section 9 of the Act from SAS Nagar (Mohali) to Moga. It is so said because all the abovesaid undisputed facts clearly go in favour of the applicant-wife and against the respondent-husband. In the circumstances of the case, it will not only be inconvenient but would be very difficult for the applicant-wife to go from Moga to SAS Nagar (Mohali) to pursue the litigation imposed on her by the respondent-husband under Section 9 of the Act. Convenience of the wife in transfer applications, like the present one, arising out of a matrimonial dispute, is one of the relevant consideration. Further, distance between the two places, financial status of the wife, her source of income, her age as well as her responsibility for bringing up the minor child, are the relevant factors to be considered, while deciding the transfer applications like the present one.
7. The cardinal principle for exercise of power under Section 24 of the Civil Procedure Code is that the ends of justice demand the transfer of the suit, appeal or other proceeding. In matrimonial matters, wherever the Courts are called upon to consider the plea of transfer, the Courts have to take into consideration the economic soundness of either of the parties, the social strata of the spouses and behavioural pattern, their standard of life antecedent to marriage and subsequent thereto and circumstances of either of the parties in eking out their livelihood and under whose protective umbrella they are seeking their sustenance to life. Generally, it is the wife's convenience which must be looked at by the Courts, while deciding a transfer application.
8. The view taken by this Court also finds support from the following judgments of the Hon'ble Supreme Court, as well as different High Courts, including this Court:-
"1. Mrs. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi and another v. Miss Rani Jethmalani, MANU/SC/0134/1978 : AIR 1979 (SC) 468.
2. Dr. Subramaniam Swamy v. Ramakrishna Hegde, MANU/SC/0024/1990 : 1990 (1) SCC 4.
3. Savitri v. Hari Chand, MANU/SC/1003/1998 : AIR 1999 SC 55
4. Neelam Kanwar v. Devinder Singh Kanwar, MANU/SC/27........