In Rama vs. Sandeep Purkayastha, Tis Hazari Court held that when a petitioner (wife) fails to submit the necessary supporting documents along with the income affidavit as mandated by SC in Rajnesh vs. Neha, application seeking interim maintenance cannot be considered complete, and arrears will not accrue from the date of application but from the date of compliance.

“The application, without the affidavit, cannot be considered an effective application within the scope of Rajnesh vs. Neha (Supra) and if not merely a ‘bunch of paper’, it is definitely not sufficient to grant interim maintenance.”, Court observed.

The wife (petitioner) filed a complaint u/s 12 of DV Act, along with an application for interim maintenance. As per SC’s ruling in Rajnesh vs. Neha, both parties are mandated to file income affidavits with supporting documents to assist the court in determining maintenance.

While the petitioner submitted an income affidavit, she repeatedly failed to attach the necessary supporting documents on the previous hearing dates.

The respondent, through Adv. Satyam Soni (from Tripaksha Litigation), argued that petitioner is deliberately avoiding full disclosure of her income as she is gainfully employed. He further argued that the motive is to stack up arrears of maintenance which are calculated from date of application.

Court took serious note of petitioner’s non-compliance and reiterated the principle laid down in Rajnesh vs. Neha, which mandates filing of complete and truthful income affidavits supported by documents.

“Petitioner cannot be allowed to stack up arrears because of her default as no party can take advantage of their own wrong. Therefore, the date of filing of income affidavit of the petitioner gains importance for the purpose of calculating the arrears.”, Court observed.

Based on these observations, Court directed that the arrears of interim maintenance shall commence from the date of compliance, i.e., the date on which the petitioner submits the required supporting documents with the income affidavit, and not from the date of filing the application.