NON REPORTABLE

 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA    CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION

CIVIL APPEAL NO. 5077 OF 2009 (Arising out of S.L.P. (C) No.680 of 2009)

Lalit Kishore                   ----Appellant  

Versus

Meeru Sharma & Anr.              ----Respondents

J U D G M E N T

TARUN CHATTERJEE, J.

1. Leave granted.

2. This  is  an appeal  filed  against  the  judgment  and  

order dated 2nd of December, 2008 in W.P.No.10290  

of  2007 of  the  High Court  of  Madhya Pradesh at  

Jabalpur  by  which  the  application  filed  by  the  

husband-appellant  for  medical  examination of  his  

wife-respondent  for  ascertaining  her  mental  

condition  was  rejected  by  the  Family  Court  at  

Jabalpur, which was affirmed by the High Court in  

W.P.No.10290 of 2007.

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3. In our view, the High Court as well as the Family  

Court was not justified in rejecting the application  

for medical examination of the wife-respondent.  It  

is difficult to conceive that the Family Court cannot  

be conferred with jurisdiction to pass an order for  

medical examination in an appropriate case because  

when such report is received, that would facilitate  

the  court  in  giving  a  positive  conclusion  on  the  

mental condition of the wife-respondent. It  is true  

that  the  Hindu  Marriage  Act  or  any  other  law  

governing  the  field  does  not  contain  any  express  

provision empowering the court  to  issue direction  

upon a party in a matrimonial proceeding to compel  

him  to  submit  herself/himself  to  a  medical  

examination. But, in our view, it does not preclude  

the court from passing such an order. The court is  

always empowered to satisfy itself as to whether a  

party  before  it  suffers  from mental  illness  or  not  

either  for  the  purpose  of  taking  evidence  on  the  

ground for which the matrimonial  proceeding was  

started. It  is well  settled that the primary duty of  

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the  court  is  to  see  that  the  truth  comes  out.  

Therefore, although the medical examination for a  

party is not provided in the Act, even then, the court  

has complete inherent power in an appropriate case  

under Section 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure to  

pass  all  orders  for  doing  complete  justice  to  the  

parties to the suit. In Sharda vs. Dharmpal [(2003)  

4 SCC 493], a three-Judge Bench decision of this  

Court has taken into consideration the power of the  

court  to  allow  such  application  for  medical  

examination of a party in a matrimonial proceeding  

and observed as under :-  

“In certain cases medical  examination by  the  experts  in  the  field  may not  only  be  found  to  be  leading  to  the  truth  of  the  matter  but  may  also  lead  to  removal  of  misunderstanding  between the  parties.  It  may being the parties to terms.”

4. In view of the aforesaid decision of this Court and  

considering the fact that the report of the medical  

expert would only be an evidence in the proceeding,  

we do not find any reason why such application for  

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appointment  of  a  medical  expert  to  examine  the  

wife-respondent cannot be granted.  

5. For the reasons aforesaid,  the impugned order as  

well as the order of the Family Court are set aside.  

The application for appointment of a medical expert  

for medical examination of the wife-respondent filed  

at  the  instance  of  the  husband-appellant  is  thus  

allowed.     

6. The appeal is thus allowed. There will be no order  

as to costs.   

………………………J. [Tarun Chatterjee]

New Delhi; ………………………J. August 04, 2009.  [R.M.Lodha]

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