By the time a broken marriage reaches the Supreme Court, it rarely travels alone. Criminal cases, maintenance petitions, matrimonial proceedings and their appeals accumulate across jurisdictions. The Court’s answer, increasingly, is comprehensive disposal: a negotiated settlement recorded in one order that fixes permanent alimony and closes the entire bundle. A decision of 28 September 2026 shows the mechanics — including how the Court calibrates the amount.
The anatomy of a bundled settlement
The parties married on 4 December 2016 and lived apart from 2022. Litigation multiplied — criminal and civil, involving the spouses and family members, spread across courts. The matter reached the Supreme Court through the criminal side, and the husband filed an interlocutory application invoking Article 142: dissolve the marriage on irretrievable breakdown, and quash everything pending between the families. Mediation of such disputes at the Court is standard, and here the parties ultimately agreed to a mutual settlement.
What the Bench directed
The money term
Rs. 35,00,000 as permanent alimony in full and final settlement of the wife’s claims — structured as Rs. 2,00,000 paid immediately with the balance Rs. 33,00,000 by demand drafts.
The calibration
The figure was not plucked from the air: the order records the wife’s medical condition and the husband’s financial capacity as the anchors of the assessment — the two variables that matter most in alimony practice.
The closure
The settlement operated as a package resolving the litigation between the parties, in line with the Court’s established practice of comprehensive disposal in matrimonial bundles under Article 142.
Why parties settle at this level
| Without settlement | With a Supreme Court settlement |
|---|---|
| Each case proceeds separately — years of hearings in multiple courts | One order addresses the full bundle |
| Maintenance orders remain open to revision and enforcement battles | A lump-sum figure, paid in verifiable tranches, ends the money disputes |
| Criminal cases continue regardless of the civil outcome | Quashing on settlement is sought within the same framework |
| No court below can act on irretrievable breakdown | Article 142 uniquely permits dissolution on that ground |
A caution from adjacent practice: settlements cannot bind statutory authorities who are not parties — tax proceedings, for instance, stand outside the package unless the authority itself is before the Court. Draft the settlement’s scope accordingly.
Structuring the deal: counsel’s checklist
For litigants exhausted by multi-forum matrimonial war, this order is the map: mediation, a calibrated lump sum, tranche payments, and comprehensive closure — with Article 142 supplying the jurisdiction that no other court possesses.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Settlement value and structure depend entirely on the parties’ circumstances; parties should obtain advice on their own matter.
Frequently Asked Questions
What was pending between the parties?
Married in December 2016 and separated since 2022, the spouses and their families were locked in multiple criminal and civil proceedings across jurisdictions. The husband applied under Article 142 seeking divorce on the ground of irretrievable breakdown and quashing of the pending litigation; the parties then agreed to settle.
What did the Supreme Court order on money?
Permanent alimony of Rs. 35,00,000 in full and final settlement, payable in two tranches — Rs. 2,00,000 immediately and Rs. 33,00,000 by demand drafts. The Court took into account the wife’s medical condition and the husband’s financial capacity in fixing the figure.
Can the Supreme Court dissolve a marriage on irretrievable breakdown?
Yes. Under Article 142 of the Constitution, the Supreme Court — and only the Supreme Court — may dissolve a marriage on irretrievable breakdown to do complete justice, a power a Constitution Bench has affirmed. Relief on that ground is discretionary, and settlements are the commonest vehicle through which it is exercised.
How is permanent alimony assessed?
There is no formula. Courts weigh the length of the marriage, the parties’ incomes and capacities, the standard of living, health — as the wife’s medical condition did here — and the closure value of settling every proceeding at once.