The Supreme Court is expected to pronounce its verdict on dissolving marriages between consenting couples without referring them to family courts on May 1, according to a report by PTI.
This time, the Supreme Court will be exercising its power under Article 142 of the Indian Constitution.
It was a five-judge Constitution bench consisting of Justices SK Kaul, Sanjiv Khanna, A S Oka, Vikram Nath and J K Maheshwari that reserved the judgement on September 29, 2022.
PTI reports that while reserving its order, the court had mentioned that social changes take a "little time" and at times it is easier to bring a law but it is difficult for society to adjust to it.
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The apex court had acknowledged the large role a family plays in marriages in India. The apex court is also considering whether its sweeping powers under Article 142 are inhibited in any manner in a scenario where a marriage has irretrievably broken down in the opinion of the court but one of the parties is resisting divorce.
Two questions, including whether the exercise of such jurisdiction by the SC under Article 142 should not be made at all or whether such exercise should be left to be determined in the facts of every case, were earlier referred to the constitution bench.
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One of the questions, which has been referred to it is what could be the broad parameters for the exercise of powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to dissolve a marriage between consenting parties without referring the parties to the family court to wait for the mandatory period prescribed under section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act.
On September 20, the apex court said, "We do believe that another question which would require consideration would be whether the power under Article 142 of the Constitution of India is inhibited in any manner in a scenario where there is an irretrievable breakdown of marriage in the opinion of the court but one of the parties is not consenting to the terms."
Having exercised its sweeping powers under Article 142 for more than two decades to annul "irretrievably broken marriages", the apex court had in September last year agreed to examine whether it can nullify marriages between estranged couples without both the partners consenting to it.
(With PTI Inputs)
