2025:HHC:20609 IN THE HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH, SHIMLA CMPMO No.299/2021 Date of Decision: 30th June, 2025. Monika Devi .....Petitioner Versus Hemant Kaushal …..Respondent Coram The Hon’ble Mr. Justice Bipin Chander Negi, Judge. Whether approved for reporting?1 For the Petitioner: Mr. Baljinder Singh, Advocate. For the Respondent: Mr. Jagat Pal, Advocate. Bipin Chander Negi, Judge (oral). Heard counsel for the parties. Perused the pleadings. Till date, no reply has been filed to the present petition by the respondent. 2. The present petitioner and the respondent were solemnized in a marriage, in accordance with the Hindu Rites and Customs on 24.04.2012. Out of the aforesaid wedlock, two sons were born. 3. Presently the petitioner-wife is living at her parental house at Bilaspur. She has been living there since 2017. She is purely dependent on her parents for her sustenance. From the affidavit appended along with the present petition, it is evident that at the time of filing of the present petition, the petitioner was unemployed. 1 Whether reporters of Local Papers may be allowed to see the judgment? YES 2 2025:HHC:20609 4. In the year 2020, the respondent, in the case at hand, has filed a petition under Section 13(B)(I) of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, at solan, seeking a divorce from the present petitioner. Besides the aforesaid, on a complaint dated 17.09.2021, made by the wife of the younger brother of the respondent, an alleged false case under Section 504 IPC read with the Atrocities Act, has been got lodged at Solan, against the present petitioner. 5. In the aforesaid backdrop, the present petition has been filed under Section 24 of Cr. P.C., seeking transfer of the Section 13 petition filed under the Hindu Marriage Act by the respondent in the Court of Addl. District Sessions Judge, Solan, HP, bearing case No.130 of 2020, titled Hemant Kaushal Vs. Monika Devi, to be transferred to the Court of District Judge (Family Court) Bilaspur. 6. The cardinal principles for dealing with the petition under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure have been clearly enunciated in 2022 SCC OnLine SC 1199 titled as N.C. V. Aishwarya vs. A.S. Saravana Karthik Sha. Relevant extract whereof is reproduced here-in-below:- “9. The cardinal principle for exercise of power under Section 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure is that the ends of justice should demand the transfer of the suit, appeal or other proceeding. In matrimonial matters, wherever Courts are called upon to consider the plea of transfer, the court have to take into consideration the economic soundness of both the parties, the social strata of the spouses and their behavioural pattern, their standard of life prior to the marriage and subsequent thereto and the circumstances of both the parties in eking out their livelihood and under whose protective umbrella they are seeking their sustenance 3 2025:HHC:20609 to life. Given the prevailing socioeconomic paradigm in the Indian society, generally, it is the wife's convenience which must be looked at while considering transfer. 10. Further, when two or more proceedings are pending in different Courts between the same parties which raise common question of fact and law, and when the decisions in the cases are interdependent, it is desirable that they should be tried together by the same Judge so as to avoid multiplicity in trial of the same issues and conflict of decisions.” 7. Keeping in view the wife’s convenience, in the case at hand, and the fact that the wife is totally dependent for sustenance on her parents and the fact that a criminal case has been foisted against the present petitioner at Solan, the present petition is allowed and the proceedings filed under Section 13(B)(I) pending consideration before the Addl. District and Sessions Judge, Court No.2, Solan, HP in Case No.130 of 2020, titled Hemant Kaushal Vs. Monika Devi, are ordered to be transferred to the Court of District Judge (Family Court), Bilaspur, HP. 8. Parties are directed to appear before the said Court through their counsels on 24.07.2025. It be ensured that record is remitted to the said Court on or before the date fixed. In view of the aforesaid, present petition is disposed of, so also the pending miscellaneous applications, if any. (Bipin Chander Negi) Judge 30th June, 2025 (Gaurav Rawat)