Maintenance litigation does not end with the order. The amount fixed under Section 144 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — the successor to Section 125 CrPC — reflects the parties' circumstances on the day it is made. When those circumstances change, the statute provides its own correction mechanism: Section 146 BNSS, carrying forward Section 127 CrPC, empowers the Magistrate to alter the allowance — upward or downward — or cancel it altogether, on proof of a change in the circumstances of either party, or in consequence of a decision of a competent civil or Family Court. For both claimants facing inflation and payers facing reversals, it is among the most practically important and least understood provisions in the maintenance chapter.
The provision in outline
Section 146 BNSS operates on an existing order under Section 144 — whether for a wife, child or parent — and gives the Magistrate three powers: increase the allowance, reduce it, or cancel the order. Three triggers run through the provision: a change in the circumstances of the person receiving or paying; a decision of a competent civil court or Family Court bearing on the parties' rights; and, for a divorced wife, specific events — remarriage, or receipt of the sums payable on divorce under personal law, in which case cancellation follows the scheme of the section.
Enhancement: the claimant's side
- Cost of living: sustained inflation since the original order is a recognised ground; courts take judicial notice of it, though quantification still needs the claimant's updated expense record.
- The payer's improved income: promotions, increments and business expansion are classic grounds — proved through salary slips summoned from the employer, income tax returns, and the asset-and-liability affidavits now standard in maintenance proceedings after Rajnesh v. Neha.
- The child's trajectory: school fees become college fees; medical needs emerge. Orders for minor children are the most frequently enhanced category.
- Drafting: plead the original order's factual basis, the specific changes since, and the revised need — a comparative table of then-versus-now expenses is far more persuasive than narrative.
Reduction and cancellation: the payer's side
The payer's application succeeds or fails on the genuineness of the claimed reversal. Retirement at superannuation, documented business closure, or serious illness reducing earning capacity are legitimate grounds for reduction; resignation timed to the maintenance litigation, or income routed through relatives, is the pattern courts are quickest to see through — the settled principle that an able-bodied person is presumed capable of earning applies at the alteration stage as it does at the original hearing. Cancellation grounds are narrower and largely statutory: the recipient's remarriage, cohabitation inconsistent with the entitlement, mutual-consent separation arrangements that covered maintenance, or a civil court adjudication — for instance, a finding in matrimonial proceedings — that removes the foundation of the order.
The interplay with civil court outcomes
Maintenance order first
A later Family Court decree — divorce with permanent alimony under Section 25 HMA, or a restitution decree — is a changed circumstance. The Magistrate adjusts the Section 144 order to avoid double recovery and to reflect the civil adjudication.
Civil decision first
Where a competent civil court has already determined the parties' financial rights, the Section 144 order must be varied or cancelled in consequence, on application under Section 146 — the criminal-side order cannot run contrary to the civil adjudication.
Procedure and proof
The application is a summary proceeding before the same jurisdiction that made the order. Both sides should file updated affidavits of assets and liabilities; the applicant bears the burden of proving the change, and the court can summon employer records, bank statements and tax filings. The order operates from the date the court specifies — alteration is not automatically retrospective — and until it is made, the existing order stands fully enforceable, including through the recovery machinery for arrears. Orders under the provision are themselves open to revision on the usual grounds.
Practice note: Treat Section 146 BNSS as the scheduled maintenance review it is. Claimants with orders more than three or four years old, particularly for growing children, should audit the current adequacy of the amount against documented expenses. Payers facing genuine reversals should apply promptly rather than default — arrears accrued before an alteration application are rarely forgiven, and a record of voluntary compliance is the applicant's best credibility asset.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as a "change in circumstances"?
A material alteration in either party's financial or personal position after the order: the payer's promotion, business growth, retirement or genuine job loss; the claimant's employment or its loss, serious illness, the child's advancing education costs, or remarriage. The change must be real and proved — ordinary inflation is commonly recognised for enhancement, while a payer's self-created incapacity rarely persuades.
Can maintenance be cancelled entirely?
Yes, in defined situations: the wife's remarriage; proof of circumstances that would have disentitled her originally, such as living in adultery or refusing without sufficient reason to live with the husband where that bar applies; mutual separation by consent; or a civil court decision inconsistent with the order. Cancellation operates prospectively from the date the court fixes.
Does a divorce decree end maintenance under Section 144 BNSS?
No. A divorced wife who has not remarried remains entitled — the definition of "wife" in the provision includes her. A decree of divorce may, however, be a changed circumstance for re-fixing quantum, and amounts received as permanent alimony under Section 25 HMA are factored in to prevent double recovery.
Where is a Section 146 application filed, and is interim relief available?
Before the Magistrate who passed, or now exercises jurisdiction over, the maintenance order — typically the Family Court where one exists. The original order continues to operate, and arrears continue to accrue, until it is actually altered; filing an alteration application is no ground to stop paying.