The Supreme Court today held that it can exercise its plenary powers under Article 142 of the Constitution to grant a decree of divorce to consenting parties, in cases of irretrievable breakdown of marriage. A Constitution Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and others held that the six month period prescribed under the Hindu Marriage Act can be dispensed with.
The verdict came in a batch of petitions concerning the use of the top court’s plenary powers to dissolve a marriage between consenting parties without referral to family courts to wait for the mandatory period prescribed under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act. Article 142 empowers the apex court to pass decrees and orders which are necessary for “doing complete justice” in any cause or matter pending before it. The case was referred to a five-judge Bench nearly five years ago on June 29, 2016 by a Division Bench of Justices Shiva Kirti Singh and R Banumathi (both retired) in a transfer petition.
