Opinion: Caution against violating divorce terms of compromise is a must

They invariably end up with litigations before the police, protection officer and courts. The Family Courts Act, 1984 (hereafter referred to as FC Act) was enacted “to provide for the establishment of Family Courts with a view to promote conciliation in, and secure speedy settlement of, disputes relating to marriage and family affairs and for matters connected therewith.”

Under Section 9 of the FC Act, the duty of Family Court is primarily to make efforts for settlement. “In every suit or proceeding, endeavor shall be made by the Family Court in the first instance, where it is possible to do so consistent with the nature and circumstances of the case, to assist and persuade the parties in arriving at a settlement in respect of the subject-matter of the suit or proceeding and for this purpose a Family Court may, subject to any rules made by the High Court, follow such procedure as it may deem fit.” For the above purpose the Court can adjourn the proceedings for such period as it thinks fit to enable attempts to be made to effect such settlement.

Thus from the acrimonious fault based remedies, the FC Act paved room for conciliatory settlement of disputes. Towards this end, Counselling, Mediation and Psychiatric / Psychological Counselling facilities are made available in all Family Courts. Yet, most matrimonial discord results in acrimonious and multiple litigations instituted under various Acts such as the Indian Penal Code for cruelty against wife, assault, cheating, criminal breach of trust etc., Dowry Prohibition Act, Protection of Women Against Domestic Violence Act, Maintenance provisions under different laws and of course the various Marriage Laws. Depending on the fighting spirit and mood of the spouse and his / her advisors a plethora of cases are filed against each other and the parties become court birds, negative to the world around them and are busy for even decades with no relief at sight. The multiple litigations are generally indulged in only to push the other party to come to a negotiating table. The criminal offences which are non-compoundable are also compounded by amicable settlement seeking to quash the same with settlement memos.

Mostly the compromises arrived at are regarding non-prosecution of criminal cases, monetary and child custody / visitation issues. While the immediate compliance to non-prosecution is done by quash orders obtained from the High Courts, monetary claims that are immediate or one time payments are generally complied with. But as far as differed payments and child custody / visitation are concerned they are re-visited and litigations get to become serial with no end till the child turns 18. Generally, as the terms of settlements are not incorporated in the mutual consent divorce decrees, they become in-executable and hence multiplicity of litigations accrue thereafter.

It is in this context that the recent Supreme Court judgment in Praveen Singh Ramakant Bhadauriya ...appellant(s) VERSUS NEELAM PRAVEEN SINGH BHADAURIYA ...RESPONDENT(S) dated 1st May, 2019, becomes very important.

The Supreme Court has while dealing with the above case, which has been litigated at various forums between the parties for nearly last 17 years had referred the case to mediation. The parties compromised and amicable settlement of issues was arrived at, leading to divorce by mutual consent, payment of maintenance in lump sum and withdrawal of cases in various courts. The Supreme Court in its wisdom has in this case clearly said, “in case of non-compliance of the terms of compromise, the parties would be liable for contempt of this Court in addition to other remedies available under law”.

Such cautioning against violation of divorce terms of compromise is welcome and a must. Of late we see a spurt in litigations because of such blatant violations of compromised terms. In order to obtain a speedy remedy of divorce / maintenance the parties sign on compromise memos and then after obtaining the order they violate the same. This is more rampant in child custody / visitation issues. The welfare of the children is at stake due to such dishonest parents. Hope the above said Supreme Court order making non-compliance of agreed terms of compromise a contemptuous act will act as a deterrent and curtail vexatious and multiple litigations.