Transfer withdrawal of from High Court for hearing by Supreme Court. This is a rather unusual case it can hardly be disputed. The divorce petition has been pending for more than 8 years. With a view to expedition it's disposal it was transferred from District Court to the High Court. The Supreme Court repeatedly requested the High Court to try the matter on a day to day basis and dispose of it expeditiously.

The optician is still at the stage of trial. It is not possible to apportion the blame. Each side attributes it to the other. Five learned judges of the High Court have tried their hand at the case, but it still remains at the stage of trial. The respondents is yet to begin. Having regard to the number of allegation s made by the petitioner in his divorce petition and the material relied upon by him.

It may safely be presumed that the cross examination of the respondent would take as much as time as the cross examination of the petitioner, if not more. Each party', it appears, is out to punish the other for what the other is supposed to have said or done. This appears to be the single though ruling their lives today. A good part of the life of both the parties is consumed in this litigation and yet the end is not in the sight.

The assertion of the wife that she wants to live with the husband even now ,appears to be but a mere assertion. After all the allegations, made against her in the petition and the allegations levelled by her against the petitioner, living together is out of question. The reapproachment is not in the realm of possibility. For the parties to come together, the they must be super humans ,which they are not. The parties have crossed the point of no return long ago.

The nature of the allegations levelled against each other show intense hatred and animosity each bears towards the other. The marriage is over expect in nature. The desirability of allowing the continuation of the divorce proceedings in the particular facts and circumstances of the case ,it is open to grave doubt. The matter may take more than a year at the minimum to conclude in the High Court and then there is the right of appeal to the losing party.

Both the parties are we'll settled. The children are grown up and are on their own . It is significant to note that this is not a case where allegations are made only by one party against the other. Both have levelled serious allegation s against the other. The husband calls the wife an adulteress and wife calls the husband a lunatic.

The transfer Petition the wife avers that she has no independent income and that her parents are not in a position to bear the expenses of her travel from Delhi to Bombay to context the divorce petition, she further avers that she is twenty two years old and can't travel to and stay in Bombay alone for, there is no one in Bombay with whom she can stay, the transfer Petition should be allowed.

Merely because there are allegations and counter allegation,a decree of divorce can not follow. Nor is merely delay in disposal of the divorce petition by it self a ground. There must be really some extra ordinary features to warrent grant of divorce on the basis of pleadings without a full trial . Irretrievable break down of marriage is not a ground by it self.

But while scrutinizing the evidence on record to determine whether the ground alleged is made out and in determining the relief to be granted,the said circumstances can certainly be borne in mind . An unusual step can be resorted to only to clear up an insoluble mess ,when the Court finds it in the interest of both the parties.

In spite of the direction s of the Supreme Court ,matter not being expedited, Supreme Court under such peculiar circumstances withdrew the case from High Court and decided it on the basis of allegation in W.S. which constituted cruelty and granted divorce.