Why the Supreme Court Disposed of Omar Abdullah’s Divorce Appeal
The Supreme Court granted a divorce to Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and his estranged wife Payal Abdullah on Friday, after the couple told the court that all their disputes had been resolved by mutual consent. The two sides filed an application under Article 142 of the Constitution — the provision that allows the Supreme Court to pass orders to do complete justice in a matter before it — asking for the marriage to be dissolved on agreed terms.
Appearing for Abdullah, senior advocate Kapil Sibal told a bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe that both parties had “embraced freedom” and that all other matters would be withdrawn. “It’s all settled,” Sibal submitted. Disposing of the appeal, the bench said: “That’s good. We will dispose it of on those terms.” The court was hearing two pleas, including one in which Abdullah had sought a divorce on grounds of cruelty.
The ruling ends a long-running case. Abdullah and Payal Abdullah married in September 1994 and have two sons, but had lived separately since 2009; Abdullah publicly announced the end of the 17-year marriage in 2011. In August 2023, the Delhi High Court ordered interim maintenance of Rs 1.5 lakh a month for Payal Abdullah, plus Rs 60,000 each toward the children’s education. It dismissed Abdullah’s divorce appeal in December 2023, upholding a 2016 Family Court order that had refused him a divorce decree. The Supreme Court sought Payal Abdullah’s response to his plea in July 2024, and later directed the couple to sit together and attempt to resolve their matrimonial disputes.
From Family Court to Mutual Consent: A Decade of Litigation
From Family Court to Mutual Consent: A Decade of Litigation
The mutual settlement closes a dispute that had been moving through the courts since 2016, when a Family Court refused Omar Abdullah a divorce decree on cruelty grounds. The Delhi High Court upheld that refusal in December 2023, pushing the case to the Supreme Court. Along the way, the High Court had in August 2023 ordered Abdullah to pay Rs 1.5 lakh a month in interim maintenance to Payal Abdullah, with an additional Rs 60,000 each for the children’s education. The apparent turning point was the Supreme Court’s own push for an out-of-court resolution: the bench directed the couple to sit together and work out their differences, and the agreement announced on Friday followed that process.
Why Article 142 Allowed a Direct End to the Marriage
The couple sought dissolution under Article 142, the constitutional provision that lets the Supreme Court pass any order needed to do complete justice in a matter before it. The court has used this power in earlier matrimonial cases to bring marriages to an end by mutual consent without requiring the parties to complete the ordinary statutory divorce procedure. With the bench disposing of the appeal on the agreed terms and Sibal confirming that “all other matters will be withdrawn,” the pending maintenance and related cases are set to close alongside the divorce itself.
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