Section 146 BNSS: Alteration in Maintenance Allowance
Section 146 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 deals with alteration, variation and cancellation of maintenance or interim maintenance orders made under Section 144 BNSS.
- A Magistrate may alter maintenance or interim maintenance when circumstances have changed.
- An order under Section 144 must be cancelled or varied when required by a decision of a competent Civil Court.
- Special rules apply to maintenance orders in favour of divorced women.
- Remarriage can result in cancellation of the maintenance order from the date of remarriage.
- A Civil Court must account for amounts already paid or recovered under Section 144 while making a decree for maintenance or dowry.
What is Section 146 of the BNSS?
Section 146 provides the statutory mechanism for changing an existing maintenance or interim maintenance order made under Section 144. A maintenance order is not necessarily fixed permanently. If relevant circumstances later change, the Magistrate may alter the allowance after proof of that change.
The section also coordinates maintenance proceedings before a Magistrate with decisions of a competent Civil Court and specifies circumstances in which an order in favour of a divorced woman is to be cancelled.
Change in circumstances under Section 146(1)
Sub-section (1) applies when there is proof of a change in the circumstances of either a person receiving maintenance or interim maintenance under Section 144, or a person ordered to pay such maintenance to a wife, child, father or mother.
Once the required change in circumstances is proved, the Magistrate may make such alteration in the maintenance or interim maintenance allowance as the Magistrate considers appropriate. The provision does not itself prescribe a fixed percentage or formula for alteration; the decision depends on the proved circumstances of the particular case.
Effect of a Civil Court decision under Section 146(2)
Sub-section (2) addresses the relationship between an order made under Section 144 and a later or relevant decision of a competent Civil Court. If, because of that Civil Court decision, the maintenance order should be cancelled or varied, the Magistrate must cancel or vary the order accordingly.
Divorced women and cancellation of maintenance under Section 146(3)
Sub-section (3) contains specific rules for a woman in whose favour an order under Section 144 has been made after she has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband.
Remarriage
If the woman remarries after the divorce, the Magistrate shall cancel the maintenance order from the date of remarriage.
Receipt of the full sum payable on divorce
If the woman was divorced by her husband and has received the whole sum payable on divorce under the customary or personal law applicable to the parties, the section specifies the date from which the maintenance order is to be cancelled, depending on whether that sum was paid before or after the maintenance order.
Voluntary surrender of maintenance rights after divorce
If a woman who obtained a divorce voluntarily surrendered her rights to maintenance or interim maintenance after the divorce, the Magistrate shall cancel the order from the date of that surrender.
Adjustment by Civil Court under Section 146(4)
When a Civil Court makes a decree for recovery of maintenance or dowry in favour of a person who has also been awarded maintenance or interim maintenance under Section 144, it must take into account the amount already paid to or recovered by that person under the Section 144 order.
Text of Section 146 BNSS
146. Alteration in allowance.
(1) On proof of a change in the circumstances of any person, receiving, under section 144 a monthly allowance for the maintenance or interim maintenance, or ordered under the same section to pay a monthly allowance for the maintenance, or interim maintenance, to his wife, child, father or mother, as the case may be, the Magistrate may make such alteration, as he thinks fit, in the allowance for the maintenance or the interim maintenance, as the case may be.
(2) Where it appears to the Magistrate that in consequence of any decision of a competent Civil Court, any order made under section 144 should be cancelled or varied, he shall cancel the order or, as the case may be, vary the same accordingly.
(3) Where any order has been made under section 144 in favour of a woman who has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband, the Magistrate shall, if he is satisfied that-
(a) the woman has, after the date of such divorce, remarried, cancel such order as from the date of her remarriage;
(b) the woman has been divorced by her husband and that she has received, whether before or after the date of the said order, the whole of the sum which, under any customary or personal law applicable to the parties, was payable on such divorce, cancel such order,-
(i) in the case where such sum was paid before such order, from the date on which such order was made;
(ii) in any other case, from the date of expiry of the period, if any, for which maintenance has been actually paid by the husband to the woman;
(c) the woman has obtained a divorce from her husband and that she had voluntarily surrendered her rights to maintenance or interim maintenance, as the case may be, after her divorce, cancel the order from the date thereof.
(4) At the time of making any decree for the recovery of any maintenance or dowry by any person, to whom a monthly allowance for the maintenance and interim maintenance or any of them has been ordered to be paid under section 144, the Civil Court shall take into account the sum which has been paid to, or recovered by, such person as monthly allowance for the maintenance and interim maintenance or any of them, as the case may be, in pursuance of the said order.
Related maintenance provisions under BNSS
Legal note: This page reproduces Section 146 BNSS and provides a general explanation. The alteration, variation or cancellation of a maintenance order depends on the facts, evidence, applicable personal or customary law, and relevant judicial orders in the individual case.