BOMBAY HINDU DIVORCE (DECREES VALIDATION) ACT, 1958

Preamble - THE BOMBAY HINDU DIVORCE (DECREES VALIDATION) ACT, 1958

 

THE BOMBAY HINDU DIVORCE (DECREES VALIDATION) ACT, 1958

[Act No. 88 of 1958[1]]

[23rd October 1958]

PREAMBLE

 

An Act to validate certain decrees of divorce passed under the Bombay Hindu Divorce Act, 1947 and the Saurashtra Hindu Divorce Act, 1952.

 

WHEREAS the Bombay Hindu Divorce Act, 1947 and the Saurashtra Hindu Divorce Act, 1952, provided that desertion for a continues period of four years was a ground for granting divorce;

 

AND WHEREAS the said Acts were repealed by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955;

 

AND WHEREAS certain persons, deserted for a continuous period of four years before the commencement of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, instituted suits for divorce after such commencement, and were granted decrees of divorce;

 

AND WHEREAS in Pauper Appeal No. 94 of 1956, Matrimonial Jurisdiction Suit No. 86 of 1956 (Sitabai Ramchandra Todankar v. Ramchandra Raghunath Todankar) a Full Bench of the High Court at Bombay in appeal from its original civil jurisdiction held that such divorces granted, were illegal;

 

AND WHEREAS it appears that several divorces have been so irregularly granted, and decrees and orders passed accordingly;

 

AND WHEREAS it is expedient to validate such decrees for divorce, and orders consequential thereto, so irregularly granted or made;

 

It is hereby enacted in the Ninth Year of the Republic of India as follows :-

 

NOTES

 

Object.- Under the Bombay Hindu Divorce Act, 1947 and the Saurashtra Hindu Divorce Act, 1952 desertion for a continuous period of 4 years was a ground for granting divorce. These Acts were repealed by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (XXV of 1955) passed by Parliament persons deserted for a continuous period of 4 years before the commencement of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, filed suits for divorce under one or other of those Acts, read with sections 29 and 30 of the Central Hindu Marriage Act; and it appears that divorces in certain cases were actually granted. Subsequently in Sitabai Ramchandra v. Ramchandra Raghunath Todankar, Appeal No. 94/1956, a Full Bench of the Bombay High Court decided that any right which may have accrued to obtain a divorce for desertion under the Bombay Hindu Divorce Act, 1947, could not be prosecuted after the repeal of the Act by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, as such desertion must be continuous until the filing of the suit. After the commencement of the Central Act a suit for divorce could be filed only under that Act. Consequently, divorces granted were illegal. The High Court suggested that as a considerable number of such divorces may have been granted by the Courts erroneously, the State Government should take action to validate them by legislation. This Act gives effect to this suggestion of the High Court. As the Saurashtra Hindu Divorce Act, 1952, follows subsequently the Bombay Act, divorces granted in similar circumstances under the Saurashtra Act are also validated. - Mah. Act No. LXXXVII of 1958, Vide Statement of Objects and Reasons.

Section 1 - Short title

 

This Act may be called the Bombay Hindu Divorce (Decrees Validation) Act, 1958.

Section 2 - Validation of certain decrees

 

(1)     Notwithstanding the repeal of the Bombay Hindu Divorce Act, 1947 and the Saurashtra Hindu Divorce Act, 1952, by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, or anything contained in the last mentioned Act, or anything in the judgment, decree or order of any Court, any decree for divorce passed by a Court in a suit instituted, after the commencement of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, but before the 3rd day of July, 1957, on the ground of desertion for a continuous period of four years under the Bombay Hindu Divorce Act, 1947 or under the Saurashtra Hindu Divorce Act, 1952, shall be deemed to be good and valid in law., as also all orders passed by such Court for alimony, for the disposal of joint property, for the custody, maintenance or education of minor children, or other relief consequential on or incidental to the decreeing of such divorce, as if such suit had been instituted before the commencement of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; and such decree for divorce, and orders consequential or incidental thereto, shall not be deemed to be invalid on the ground merely that the suit for such divorce had been instituted after the repeal of the Bombay Hindu Divorce Act, 1947, or, as the case may be, of the Saurashtra Hindu Divorce Act, 1952, by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, in consequence whereof no right to obtain such divorce survived after such repeal.

 

(2)     Nothing contained in this section shall affect the judgment, decree or order of the High Court at Bombay delivered or passed in appeal from its original civil jurisdiction in Pauper Appeal No. 94 of 1956, Matrimonial Jurisdiction Suit No. 86 of 1956 (Sitabai RamchandraTodankar v. Ramchandra Raghunath Todankar).