The mere filing of an appeal does not wipe off the effect of a divorce decree, the Rajasthan High Court recently observed [Sudhir Sharma v. Chief Secretary, the State Government of Rajasthan and ors].
A bench of Chief Justice Pankaj Mittal and Justice Shubha Mehta made the observation while dismissing a petition filed by a man against the appointment of his estranged ex-wife as a Commercial Assistant, Grade-II.
The appointment was challenged on the ground that the same was obtained on the basis of a decree of divorce that had not attained finality since an appeal against the same was pending. Earlier, a single-judge of the High Court had dismissed the case, prompting an appeal before the division bench.
The division bench, in turn, also dismissed the case, while observing that,
“It goes without saying that mere filing of an appeal does not wipe of the effect of decree of divorce or make the said decree redundant. The divorce decree, as produced by the respondent No.4, existed on the relevant date. Therefore, she was rightly permitted joining on its basis.”
The Court also noted that the rules governing the job appointment did not provide for any divorcee quota and that the terms and conditions only required candidates to produce divorce decrees if the candidate was a divorcee. Accordingly, the petitioner’s ex-wife had produced a divorce decree obtained in 2020 at the time of her appointment and joining, the Court noted.
The Court proceeded to dismiss the appeal as devoid of merit.
In doing so, the Bench also noted that the petitioner was not entitled to any indulgence from the Court as “he had not approached the Court with clean intentions but to harass his wife with whom his relations were not cordial.”
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