Is this Mumbai's biggest divorce settlement?

In what is probably the biggest alimony awarded by the Bombay high court, a Powai resident has to give a flat  as well as Rs 1 crore to his estranged wife and minor children, reported the Times of India today.

The Powai-based businessman is expected to sell off his luxury flat in Hiranandani Gardens and use 50 percent of the  proceeds for a new flat in which is former wife and children will reside, said the report. The remaining amount will go to the husband who  will also have to pay his wife Rs 50 lakh permanent alimony and Rs 25 lakh each to his children as permanent maintenance.

Another big settlement was perhaps the case of Puneet Bagrodia, son of businessman-politician Santosh Bagrodia who was Coal Minister in UPA-I. In March the Delhi High Court’s Mediation and Conciliation Centre  cleared payment of nearly Rs 7.10 crore as full and final settlement to his wife Sunita Jalan.

In the last six decades, India has widened grounds for divorce. But most women endure a sharp fall in standard of living on separation and divorce has consistently been ignored by policymakers. Currently, a woman is only entitled to maintenance, which depends on her husband’s income and standard of living. Often husbands suppress their real income resulting in women getting an inadequate maintenance and alimony.

But now laws are coming to their rescue: For the first time, the nation is deliberating over legal changes that propose to accord women new equality with men on property rights and lifestyle post-divorce.

On 23 March, the Union Cabinet approved the Marriage Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2010, giving women the right to an equal share of property acquired after marriage.If passed, it could make divorces in India among the most equitable in the world.