Maintenance litigation under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — the successor to Section 125 CrPC — proceeds in layers: an ad-interim direction to keep the household running, an interim order after affidavits are exchanged, and a final determination. Each layer has its own anchor in time, and confusing them has real monetary consequences. A recent revision before the Delhi High Court in Himanshu Kumar v. Himani & Anr turned on exactly that confusion: from which date does an ad-interim maintenance direction operate?
The background
The parties married on 20 November 2021. Matrimonial discord followed, and the wife left the matrimonial home on 29 April 2023. The husband filed a petition for dissolution of marriage in July 2023; a child was born in November 2023. In February 2025 the wife filed a maintenance petition, and on 26 May 2026 the Family Court passed an ad-interim direction of Rs 8,000 per month — Rs 4,000 each for the wife and the child. The husband challenged that direction in revision before the High Court under Section 438 read with Section 442 of the BNSS.
What the High Court held
Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora resolved the operative-date question crisply: ad-interim maintenance directions are to be made operative from the date of the order granting the maintenance, and not from the date of filing of the petition. On that footing, the Court suspended the ad-interim direction until the next date of hearing, while requiring the husband to pay the arrears for June and July 2026 — months in which the direction had been in force — within three days. The Family Court was directed to decide the pending interim maintenance application on its merits, uninfluenced by the ad-interim arrangement.
Why the distinction matters
For claimants, the decision is a reminder that the ad-interim layer is not a retrospective remedy: the period between filing and the first direction is addressed, if at all, at the interim or final stage, where the court can award maintenance from the date of the application. For respondents, the decision is equally pointed in the other direction — a suspension of an ad-interim direction pending revision does not wipe out instalments that have already accrued. The High Court made the husband clear two months of arrears within three days as the price of the suspension.
Practice pointer: parties opposing an ad-interim direction in revision should be prepared for conditional orders. Delhi courts increasingly protect the subsistence component of maintenance even while testing the legality of the order under challenge, and an offer to deposit or pay accrued amounts materially improves the revision’s prospects of an interim stay.
The larger scheme
Section 144 of the BNSS, 2023 carries forward the summary maintenance remedy of Section 125 CrPC with the same social purpose: preventing vagrancy and destitution of spouses, children and parents. Layered orders are a feature of that purpose, not a defect — they let courts move money quickly at the threshold while reserving the fuller inquiry for the interim and final stages. Himanshu Kumar keeps the layers in their proper temporal lanes: each direction speaks from its own date unless the statute or the final adjudication says otherwise.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice or a solicitation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between ad-interim and interim maintenance?
An ad-interim direction is a stop-gap passed at the threshold, often before income affidavits are complete, to prevent immediate destitution. Interim maintenance follows once the court has examined both sides' disclosures, and operates pending the final decision. The two are distinct orders, and the High Court in this case emphasised that the pending interim application still had to be decided on its own merits.
From which date did the Family Court's direction operate?
The Family Court had passed an ad-interim direction on 26 May 2026 for Rs 8,000 per month — Rs 4,000 each for the wife and the child. The High Court held that ad-interim maintenance directions are to be made operative from the date of the order granting them, not from the date the maintenance petition was filed.
Does this mean maintenance can never run from the filing date?
No. Final maintenance under Section 144 BNSS is routinely awarded from the date of the application, and courts retain that discretion when the matter is finally decided. The ruling addresses the narrower question of the operative date of an ad-interim direction — a threshold, provisional measure — not the court's power at the final stage.
What happened to the arrears in this case?
The High Court suspended the ad-interim direction until the next hearing but required the husband to clear the arrears for June and July 2026 within three days. The suspension was therefore not a holiday from payment: amounts that had already fallen due under the order had to be paid at once.