In a relief to a former army colonel, the Bombay high court has reduced the monthly maintenance payable by him to his ex-wife from Rs 50,000 to Rs 20,000. The woman, who is a dentist, has given up her practice and taken up social work.Modifying the family court's order, a division bench of justices VK Tahilramani and AR Joshi observed: "...the amount of maintenance granted by the family court is exorbitant and needs to be reduced to Rs20,000 per month."The couple had married at Hisar in Haryana on August 30, 1990. They have a daughter.The HC was hearing an appeal filed by the colonel against the family court order, which had granted a divorce decree to the couple but ordered maintenance of Rs50,000.The woman is a dentist and also earned some amount out of a trust she ran in the name of Highways Infinite Public Trust.The judges refused to accept her argument that because she has taken up social work for her trust, she does not get time for her practice.The judges observed: "The approach of the respondent (wife) — that though she is a dentist, she won't work but devote her time to her trust from which, according to her, she gets a meagre income — is not correct. A qualified woman who was working earlier and earning and who is still capable of earning cannot just give up her job and expect her husband to provide for her."Apart from this, she had a flat and car in her name. The flat was bought for Rs15 lakh and half of this amount was given by the husband. She also had bought land in 2008 and sold it for Rs2.52 lakh.She also receives income in the form of interest from PPF, FDs, RBI bonds, and National Saving Certificates. She was working in the army for 10 years for which she received gratuity.The judges also observed that the colonel was bearing the education and hostel expenses of their 22-year-old daughter, who was pursuing a course in veterinary science in Nagpur. He did this despite the daughter having an independent source of income from a family business of her maternal uncle, the court said, adding that, hence, she was not dependent on her mother.

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