Women getting divorce would now be entitled to sufficient compensation, including a share in the ancestral property of the husband, as the Cabinet on Wednesday accepted the Group of Ministers’ (GoM) recommendations making marriage laws more favourable for women.
The GoM on Marriage laws (Amendment) Bill has made recommendations which apart from giving a share in a husband’s self-acquired property to women at the time of divorce also favoured having a new clause — 13(f) which says if the ancestral property cannot be divided, then the woman should get sufficient compensation by calculating husband’s share in it. The amount of the compensation can be worked out by the court hearing the divorce case, it has suggested.
The GoM, which was constituted as differences emerged within the Government when the law first came for consideration in the Cabinet in January this year, was asked to consider whether a court can work out “sufficient compensation” for a woman from her husband’s ancestral property in case of divorce which takes place on the grounds of “irretrievable breakdown of marriage”.
Earlier, Ministries for law and Women and Child Development held divergent views on the issue. Many other Ministers were against the women’s right to “inheritable property,” pointing out the practical difficulties in dividing the ancestral properties in case of joint families which is a usual practice in rural areas. They had argued that right to inherited property can be granted, but something which the husband will get in future after the filing of divorce petition by wife should not be included into it as it would create a whole lot of confusion.
The GoM, headed by Defence Minister AK Antony, had also been asked to take a view on whether a judge can exercise discretion in granting divorce if one of the partners does not move a second ‘joint application’ for divorce with mutual consent.
It also discussed the issue of allowing courts to decide on doing away with the mandatory six-month waiting period for couples seeking divorce through a joint petition by mutual consent.