Matrimonial cases must be tried on war-footing, says K'taka HC

BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka has said that ''matrimonial cases should be tried and disposed of on a war-footing,'' considering that human life is short and the parties have to rebuild their lives after the case.

The court was hearing a petition by a man who had filed a matrimonial case in 2016 seeking dissolution/ nullity of his marriage.

The petitioner's advocate argued that the right to speedy justice was recognised by the Supreme Court as a Constitutional guarantee under Article 21 and therefore a direction should be issued for the speedy disposal of the case.

Justice Krishna S Dixit in his recent judgment said the court was in agreement with the proposition and speedy disposal of matrimonial cases was necessary ''at least as a concession to the shortness of human life.'' Quoting historian Thomas Carlyle, the HC said, ''Life is too short to be little.''

The court observed that ''When a matrimonial case involves the prayer for the dissolution/ nullity of marriage, courts should make all efforts to try and dispose of the same within an outer limit of one year, so that in the event of granting such a decree, the parties may restructure their lives. It hardly needs to be stated 'life is lost in living'. Delay in disposal of such cases very badly affects the parties thereto, needs no deliberation.”

While directing the family court to dispose a seven-year-old case within three months, the High Court has also directed the Registrar General to circulate the judgement in all concerned circles “other similarly circumstanced litigants may not unnecessarily knock at the doors of this Court seeking a direction for the expeditious disposal of their cases.''