Parents Of Deceased Husband Can Be Impleaded In Suit For Annulment Of Marriage As Their Property Rights Are Directly Affected: Allahabad HC
The Allahabad High Court observed that the parents of a deceased husband can be impleaded/substituted in a suit for annulment of marriage, as their property rights are directly affected.
The court explained that a legal representative who was not one of the spouses to the marriage in question is allowed to pursue a petition filed under Section 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (HMA) to declare a marriage as void. The Court stated that such an application filed under Order 22 Rule 3 CPC was maintainable.
A Division Bench of Justice Vivek Kumar Birla and Syed Qamar Hasan Rizvi observed, “It can, therefore, be safely concluded from bare perusal of the aforesaid judgement that the Legal Representative who is not either of the parties and was not one of the spouse to the marriage in question can pursue the petition filed under Section 11 of the Act that marriage should be declared void and therefore, their application filed under Order 22 Rule 3 CPC would be maintainable.”
Advocate Shailendra Kumar Ojha represented the appellant, while Advocate Rakesh Dubey appeared for the respondents.
The wife had challenged the order of the family court which allowed a petition filed by the husband under Section 11 of the HMA. The husband claimed that his marriage with the wife was an outcome of fraud as she had concealed a previous marriage and had not converted to Hinduism, and therefore filed a petition to declare the marriage void.
However, the husband died in a road accident during the pendency of the suit. Subsequently, his parents sought to continue the proceedings, invoking provisions of the Civil Procedure Code (CPC) to be substituted as legal representatives. The Family Court's decision to allow this substitution was challenged by the wife, arguing that the petition should abate following her husband's death.
The Court explained that “ the parents have a right to get a declaration that the marriage between the appellant herein and their son was in violation of provisions of Section 5 of the Act as their property rights are directly affected and they have a right to be made a party to the petition under Section 11 of the Act after the death of their son.”
In dismissing the appeal, the High Court reinforced that petitions for marriage nullity under Section 11 could proceed even after the death of a spouse, provided the legal representatives can demonstrate affected rights. “It is clear that in such matters the declaration would have an impact on proprietary rights and sociolegal status of the parties cannot be said to have died with such a person,” the Court added.
Consequently, the Bench held that “In view of the discussions made hereinabove, it can safely be concluded that after death of the husband who has filed a petition under Section 11 of the Act the parents have a right to be substituted as legal representatives under Order 22 Rule 3 CPC to pursue the proceedings.”
Accordingly, the High Court dismissed the appeal.
Cause Title: S v. D & Ors. (Neutral Citation: 2024:AHC:83249-DB)
Appearance:
Appellant: Advocates Shailendra Kumar Ojha and Shyam Surat Shukla
Respondents: Advocate Rakesh Dubey
