Judgment 1. This is an application under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 for awarding the amount of maintenance pendente lite and litigation expenses to the respondent-wife for contesting this appeal. 2. It appears that the appellant Shri Dinesh Kumar Dua filed an application before the Family Court seeking a relief that the marriage asserted by the respondent-wife with the appellant Dinesh Kumar Dua never took place and, therefore, she is not the legally wedded wife of the appellant. He, therefore, sought a relief that the alleged marriage should be declared as non-existent and she should be restrained from claiming any relief on the ground that she is the legally wedded wife of the appellant. This application of the appellant was rejected by the Family Court against which he has preferred this appeal which is pending consideration before this Court. 3. The respondent-wife, on the other hand, also filed an application before the Family Court for restitution of conjugal rights and came up with a case that she had been married with the appellant Dinesh Kumar Dua in the year 1988 but he deserted her in the year 2003 and went to the extent of filing an application for declaration of this marriage as non-existent. 4. The Family Court passed a decree/order in favour of the respondent-wife for restitution of conjugal rights with the appellant-husband. The said decree/order has also been challenged by the appellant and a show cause notice was issued to the respondent-wife in both the appeals. She has, therefore, filed an application for grant of maintenance and litigation expenses and it is her case that during pendency of the proceedings before the Family Court, she had been receiving a sum of Rs. 1,500/-per month from the appellant-husband by way of maintenance. The appellant had challenged this order of grant of maintenance before the learned Single Judge which was dismissed and the Special Appeal against the same also failed before the Division Bench. She had thus been receiving a sum of Rs. 1,500/-per month by way of maintenance during pendency of those proceedings alongwith Rs. 1,000/-as litigation expenses but after conclusion of the proceedings before the Family Court, the respondent stopped receiving the payment. 5. She had thus been receiving a sum of Rs. 1,500/-per month by way of maintenance during pendency of those proceedings alongwith Rs. 1,000/-as litigation expenses but after conclusion of the proceedings before the Family Court, the respondent stopped receiving the payment. 5. We are of the opinion that in view of passing of the order for restitution of conjugal rights in favour of the respondent-wife, the appellant-husband was duty bound to live with his wife in order to give effect to the order passed by the Family Court. But, he is adamant in not giving effect to this order and is also refusing to pay the amount of maintenance in favour of the wife which he had been paying earlier. 6. As already stated earlier, in view of the decree/order in favour of the respondent-wife for restitution of conjugal rights, she is either entitled to live with her husband or in the event of failure of the husband to comply with this order, he is at the least, duty bound to maintain her for her subsistance. 7. We, therefore, deem it appropriate to maintain the order passed earlier by the Family Court in favour of the respondent-wife by which she had been receiving a sum of Rs. 1,500/-per month from the appellant-husband. This payment had been confirmed earlier also up to the Division Bench which is fit to be continued. We think that in the interest of justice the said arrangement be allowed to continue between the appellant and respondent, meaning thereby that the appellant-Dinesh Kumar Dua shall pay a sum of Rs. 1,500/-per month to his wife Smt. Jasveer Kaur and also a sum of Rs. 5,000/-by way of litigation expenses before this Court. The Counsel for the respondent-wife has claimed further amount regarding her share in the gratuity and pension amount but that will be a subject matter of consideration at the stage of appeal. At this stage, the appellant-Dinesh Kumar Dua is directed to pay a sum of Rs. 1,500/-per month which shall be paid to her on 15th of each month. Thus the respondent shall pay a sum of Rs. 1,500/-to the respondent-wife on or before 15.06.2006 and shall continue to pay this amount on month to month basis as also the additional sum of Rs. 5,000/-towards litigation expenses. 8. The application accordingly stands allowed and disposed of .