LAHORE: Punjab Home Secretary Noorul Amin Mengal, in his reply sent to a family court, says his second wife is not entitled to maintenance allowance as their marriage stands dissolved following a divorce in 2020.

“As far as the maintenance of plaintiff no.1 (daughter) is concerned, the defendant is paying maintenance of minor,” says a written reply on behalf of the secretary to a suit for maintenance filed by his second wife Ambreen Sardar and daughter Eiliya Noor.

The reply, filed through Advocate Zahid Iqbal, stated that the defendant (Mengal) divorced Ambreen Sardar on June 15, 2020, and the certificate of the divorce was issued on Jan 26, 2021.

Therefore, it argued, there was no question of payment of any maintenance to the plaintiff.

It said the defendant had been paying maintenance allowance of Rs30,000 to Rs35,000 per month to the minor. The amount is sufficient for meeting the expense of the minor, it added.

The home secretary also submitted documentary proof of his monthly salary of Rs460,735.

The defendant stated that he had to meet expenses of first wife and four children as well. He said he was ready to take the custody of the minor if the plaintiff was unable to maintain her properly.

The plaintiff’s counsel, Mian Dawood, sought time to submit proof of the source of income of the defendant and medical record of the minor for fixation of interim maintenance allowance.

Judge Shazia Kausar adjourned the hearing till April 18 for pretrial reconciliation proceedings between the parties and fixation of the interim maintenance of the minor.

The judge has already restrained the defendant from taking any illegal action to disturb the custody of the minor from her mother.

Ms Sadar, who denies the claim of divorce, contended that she married Mr Mengal in 2018 and a daughter, namely Eiliya Noor, was born out of this wedlock on Nov 19, 2019. She said the minor was born in a private hospital and all expenses (Rs250,000) incurred on the delivery were paid by her. She said her relationship with her husband started getting strained after the birth of the daughter. The plaintiff asked the court to recover maintenance allowance from the defendant bureaucrat from the past years and also ordered him to regularly pay the allowance in the future.

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2024