Dorothea Mitra AIR 1983 SC 9164,
it has been held by the Supreme Court
that a decree for alimony passed under Section 37 of the
Special Marriage Act, 1954 does not extinguish with the
death of the husband/judgment debtor. The assets left
behind by him are liable to be proceeded against in the
hands of his legal heirs for satisfaction of the decree for
maintenance. It is further held that there is no rationality in
the contention that a decree for maintenance or alimony
gets extinguished with the death of the husband when any
other decree even though not charged on the husband's
property would not get so extinguished. A decree against the
husband is executable against the estate of the husband in
the hands of the heirs and there is no personal liability.
6. By the impugned judgment, the Executing Court has held
the appellants to be liable to pay the amount of permanent
alimony of Rs.2,000/- to the respondent. The proper course
for the Executing Court should have been to direct the
parties to provide full particulars of all the movable and
immovable properties belonging to the deceased so that the
amount of permanent alimony, which is a charge on the
estate of the deceased, is recovered from those properties
because the appellants may not be personally liable to pay
permanent alimony to the respondent, but they are liable
because they are in possession of the assets of the
deceased.
HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH, BILASPUR
FAM No. 103 of 2015
Arial I Kumar S/o Late Ismail Kumar (Dead)
V
Shrimati Shikha Kumar W/o Late Arial I Kumar
Coram:
Hon'ble Shri Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra
Hon'ble Shri Justice Anil Kumar Shukla
Dated: 07/11/2016
Citation: AIR 2017 Chhatis 7
