Mutual consent divorce waiting period read down to one year under the Indian Divorce Act, with no further validity adjudication needed.

Section 10-A(1) of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869 is treated as read down so that the separation period for a mutual consent divorce petition is one year, not two years. The text notes that the Kerala High Court had already held the two-year requirement unconstitutional for violating Articles 14 and 21, and that a constitutional ruling on a Parliamentary enactment operates throughout India subject to the Act's applicability. On that basis, no further adjudication on validity was considered necessary in the present matter.

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Issues: Whether the period of two years in Section 10-A(1) of the Indian Divorce Act, 1869 for filing a petition for divorce by mutual consent is unconstitutional and liable to be read down as one year.

Analysis: The provision had already been held unconstitutional by the Kerala High Court as violating Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution, and the expression "two years" had been read down to "one year" to save the provision from invalidity. The Court treated that pronouncement as applicable throughout India in view of the legal principle that a decision on the constitutionality of a Parliamentary enactment has effect throughout the territory of India, subject to the applicability of the Act. On that basis, no separate adjudication on validity was considered necessary in the present petition.

Conclusion: Section 10-A(1) stands read down so that the separation period is one year, and the challenge to the provision does not require further orders.

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