Whether son can refuse to pay maintenance to mother on the ground that he has no earnings?

  Learned counsel for the Petitioners vehemently argues that:they do not have sufficient means to pay  the amount and they are ready & willing to look after their mother and therefore, she should be asked to join their home, leaving the place of her daughters; the mother has claimed maintenance only at the instigation of her daughters and thus the claim lacks bona fide. {Para 2}

(ii) The second submission of learned counsel for the

Petitioners that his clients do not have any means to pay

the amount directed in terms of impugned orders, is too

farfetched an argument and therefore, does not merit

countenance. Law, religion & custom mandate sons to

look after their parents, and more particularly aged

mother. 

The above shloka nearly translates to: to neglect the

parents, particularly in their old age, when they become

weak and dependent and to cause anguish, is a heinous

act for which there is no atonement available. The

virtuous idea is that one should respect & serve one’s

parents, guests & gurus, before one worships the

Almighty. 

(iii) The argument that Petitioners do not have means to

pay, is too poor a justification for not looking after the

aged & ailing mother, especially when it is not their case

that they are not able bodied or diseased. The first

Petitioner who is present before the Court and participated

in the proceedings, is hale & healthy; the second Petitioner

is not before the Court, is true; but it is not his case too

that he is weak & incapable of earning; if an able bodied

person is bound to maintain his dependent wife, there is

no reason why such a rule should not apply when it comes

to the case of a dependent mother. An argument to the

contra falls foul of law & religion, to which the Petitioners

belong.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF KARNATAKA AT BENGALURU

WRIT PETITION NO. 13182 OF 2022 (GM-RES)

SRI. GOPAL  LATE YELLAIAH Vs  THE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER,

BEFORE

THE HON'BLE MR JUSTICE KRISHNA S DIXIT

DATED THIS THE 12TH DAY OF JULY, 2023.

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