Delhi High Court orders Omar Abdullah to pay ₹1.5 lakh monthly maintenance to estranged wife

The High Court enhanced the amount after a trial court had in April 2018 ordered Omar Abdullah to pay interim maintenance of ₹75,000

New Delhi, Aug 31: The Delhi High Court on Thursday ordered former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to pay ₹1.5 lakh per month as maintenance to estranged wife Payal Abdullah, the Barandbench reported. Justice Subramonium Prasad further directed Abdullah to pay ₹60,000 per month for the education of his son.The order was passed on a plea by Payal Abdullah who had approached the High Court in July 2018 challenging an order of April 26, 2018 of the trial court.In proceedings under Section 125 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the trial court had granted interim maintenance of ₹75,000 per month to Payal Abdullah and ₹25,000 to their son till he turns 18.Payal Abdullah moved the High Court seeking enhancement of the same.

She argued that the maintenance awarded is too low and that their sons are not old enough to take care of their expenses and have to depend on their parents to pursue their education and their daily expenditures.A trial court had in 2016 dismissed Omar Abdullah’s plea for divorce holding that he failed to prove “irretrievable breakdown of the marriage” and his claims of “cruelty or desertion”.Abdullah has filed an appeal against this order before the Delhi High Court.