Maintenance under Section 144 of the BNSS, Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act or Section 20 of the DV Act ultimately reduces to two questions: what does the paying spouse earn, and what does the claimant need? Where the respondent is salaried, the first question looks deceptively simple — there is, after all, a payslip. In practice the contest is over what the payslip leaves out: allowances, incentives, employer contributions, moonlighting income and voluntary deductions dressed up as compulsory ones. This article maps the documentary route to a salaried spouse’s true income.
The document set that decides these cases
| Document | What it proves | How it is obtained |
|---|---|---|
| Salary slips (12 months) | Gross salary, allowances, deductions month by month; exposes selective disclosure of a single lean month. | Disclosure affidavit; direction for production; employer summons. |
| Form 16 / Form 26AS / AIS | Annual salary as reported to the tax department, tax deducted, and other reported income such as interest or dividends. | Disclosure affidavit; the claimant’s own copies where filed jointly; production directions. |
| Income tax returns (3 years) | Declared total income and its trend; contradictions with lifestyle are legitimate cross-examination material. | Rajnesh-format affidavit requires ITR disclosure. |
| Bank statements | Actual credits — salary, reimbursements, rental income, transfers; reveals undisclosed accounts when matched against the affidavit. | Disclosure affidavit; summons to the bank where necessary. |
| Employer certificate / CTC letter | Full cost-to-company: employer PF contribution, gratuity accrual, insurance, variable pay entitlement, perquisites. | Summons to the employer’s HR department through the court. |
| Appointment and increment letters | Career trajectory and expected increments; rebuts claims of stagnant income. | Production directions; claimant’s copies from the matrimonial home. |
The usual understatements — and the answers
“My in-hand is only…” The take-home figure follows voluntary deductions. Reconstruct gross income from the CTC letter and Form 16, and ask the court to disregard optional savings and asset-building EMIs.
The vanished variable pay. Incentives and bonuses are averaged across the year. Twelve months of slips and the bank statement expose the annual reality that a March payslip conceals.
Perquisites in kind. Company housing, a car with driver, fuel cards and club memberships reduce personal expenditure and are part of the standard-of-living comparison, even though they never hit the bank account.
The helpful employer. Where restructured salary or deferred increments appear suspiciously timed with the litigation, courts can summon HR records — the sanction letter trail rarely cooperates with the story.
Disclosure cuts both ways. The claimant’s own affidavit must be equally candid about earnings, qualifications and assets; understatement damages credibility in precisely the forum where credibility fixes the figure. A qualified claimant’s earning capacity is a relevant factor, though capacity is weighed against actual opportunity, child-care responsibilities and career sacrifices made during the marriage.
Procedure in brief
The takeaway
In salaried-spouse cases the truth is nearly always in writing — somewhere. The advocate’s task is to force the writing onto the record: the full-year payslip run, the tax trail, the employer’s CTC certificate, the bank credits. Once those documents converge, the argument about income largely ends, and the case returns to where it should be decided: the reasonable needs of the claimant measured against the standard of the marriage.
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice or a solicitation.
Frequently Asked Questions
What must each side disclose in a maintenance case?
Following the Supreme Court’s framework in Rajnesh v. Neha (2020), both parties file sworn affidavits of assets, income and liabilities in a prescribed format — covering salary, bank accounts, immovable property, investments, loans and dependants. The respondent’s affidavit is due within a fixed window, and a party who fails to file risks the application being decided on the other side’s affidavit alone.
Is take-home salary the measure of income?
No. Courts look at gross earning capacity. Statutory deductions such as income tax are legitimately excluded, but voluntary deductions — provident fund top-ups, loan EMIs for assets, insurance premiums, salary-linked savings — are generally treated as part of income, since a spouse cannot reduce the maintenance base by choosing to save or invest his own earnings.
What if the spouse refuses to produce salary records?
The claimant can seek directions for production, summon the employer’s records through the court, and rely on adverse inference. Courts may also assess income from lifestyle indicators — residence, vehicles, travel, children’s school fees — where documents are withheld. Concealment tends to produce higher, not lower, assessments.
Do bonuses and perks count?
Yes. Performance bonuses, incentive payments, leave encashment, employer-provided housing or car, and ESOP-linked benefits are all relevant to earning capacity, even if irregular. Courts typically average variable components over a reasonable period rather than taking the leanest month as representative.