Modern Hindu law : Codified and uncondified

The fifth edition of this work was published in 1981. A reprint was taken out a year later. In between the fifth edition and this edition some important decisions have been rendered by our courts, Parliament too has passed the Dowry Prohibition (Amendment) Act, 1984, and the Family Court, Act, 1984. Both are obviously welcome measures. The Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 1981, which seeks to introduce irretrievable breakdown of marriage as a ground of divorce both in the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act, is still pending in Parliament. The text of the Bill and the Dowry Prohibition Act as amended by the Act of 1984 and the Family Courts Act, 1984, are included in Appendix to this work.

The remedy of the restitution of conjugal rights continues to attract con troversy. This time it relates to the constitutional validity of section 9 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, which enshrines the remedy of restitution of con jugal rights. In T. Sareetha v. T. Venkata Subbath, A1.R. 1983 A.P. 356, Choudhry, J of the Andhra Pradesh High Court held that the remedy of restitution of conjugal rights being grossest violation of the right of privacy and right to human dignity was violative of Article 21, Constitution of India. On the other hand, Avadh Bihari Robatagi, J. in Harvinder Kaur v. Harminder Singh, A.1.R. 1984 Delhi 66 observed that introduction of constitutional law in home was like introducing a bull in a china shop, and in his view the object of restitution decree was to bring about cohabitation between the estranged parties. Both are single Bench judgments. In Saroj Rani v. Sudarshan Kumar, AIR 1984 S.C. 1562, the Supreme Court has over-ruled the view of Chaudhary, J. In our submission the approach of both the judges misses the fundamental aspect of family, viz. when a home is broken beyond all possibilities of repair, neither restitution nor constitutional law can help. We have discussed these cases under the head, "Restitution of conjugal rights" in Chapter V.

The 71st report of the Law Commission recommending the introduction of irretrievable breakdown of marriage principle on the basis of three years living separate and apart has been accepted by the Government, and a Bill incorporating this recommendation has been introduced in Parliament and is pending before the Joint Select Committee. The text of the Bill has been re printed just after the Prefaces to this work.