Article 142 and mutual consent divorce: cooling-off period may be dispensed with when marriage has irretrievably broken down.

Article 142 may be invoked in appropriate matrimonial cases to dispense with the six-month cooling-off period under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act where the marriage has effectively broken down, the parties have been separated for a substantial period, and there is no real prospect of resumption of marital life. The text also notes that, where parties move from contested proceedings to a mediated settlement and satisfy the substantive conditions for mutual consent divorce, pending proceedings under Section 12 may be treated as convertible into proceedings under Section 13-B for the purpose of granting final relief by mutual consent.

---

---

Issues: (i) Whether, in the facts of the case, the statutory cooling-off period under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, could be effectively dispensed with by invoking Article 142 of the Constitution of India. (ii) Whether the pending proceedings under Section 12 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, could be converted into proceedings under Section 13-B and a decree of mutual divorce granted.

Issue (i): Whether, in the facts of the case, the statutory cooling-off period under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, could be effectively dispensed with by invoking Article 142 of the Constitution of India.

Analysis: The statutory scheme contemplates a six-month interval between the first and second motions in a mutual consent divorce petition to permit reconsideration and preserve the marriage where possible. At the same time, Article 142 permits the Court to do complete justice in an appropriate case where the marriage has effectively ceased to subsist and the parties have remained separated with no real possibility of resumption of marital life. On the facts, the marriage had broken down shortly after solemnisation, the parties had lived separately for more than a year, and the cooling-off period had substantially run its course.

Conclusion: The cooling-off period could be dispensed with in the facts of the case by invoking Article 142, and this relief was in favour of the Appellant.

Issue (ii): Whether the pending proceedings under Section 12 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, could be converted into proceedings under Section 13-B and a decree of mutual divorce granted.

Analysis: The record showed that the parties had moved from contested matrimonial proceedings to a mediated settlement, had agreed to seek dissolution by mutual consent, and had already satisfied the substantive conditions for a decree under Section 13-B. In those circumstances, the Court treated the pending matrimonial proceedings as fit to be converted for the purpose of granting final relief by mutual consent.

Conclusion: The proceedings could be converted into proceedings under Section 13-B, and a decree of mutual divorce was granted in favour of the Appellant.

Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded, the matrimonial dispute was brought to an end by mutual consent, and the parties were relieved from waiting for the balance of the statutory period.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the marriage has irretrievably broken down in substance and the statutory conditions for mutual consent divorce are otherwise satisfied, Article 142 may be invoked in an appropriate case to dispense with the remaining cooling-off period and grant complete relief.

---