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Statement of Objects and Reasons - Maharashtra Act No. LXXXVII of 1958. - Under the Bombay Hindu Divorce Act, 1947 and the Saurashtra Hindu Divorce Act, 1952 desertion for a continuous period of 4 years was a ground for granting divorce. These Acts were repealed by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (XXV of 1955) passed by Parliament persons deserted for a continuous period of 4 years before the commencement of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, filed suits for divorce under one or other of those Acts, read with sections 29 and 30 of the Central Hindu Marriage Act; and it appears that divorces in certain cases were actually granted. Subsequently in Sitabai Ramchandra v. Ramchandra Raghunath Todankar, Appeal No. 94/1956, a Full Bench of the Bombay High Court decided that any right which may have accrued to obtain a divorce for desertion under the Bombay Hindu Divorce Act, 1947, could not be prosecuted after the repeal of the Act by the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, as such desertion must be continuous until the filing of the suit. After the commencement of the Central Act a suit for divorce could be filed only under that Act. Consequently, divorces granted were illegal. The High Court suggested that as a considerable number of such divorces may have been granted by the Courts erroneously, the State Government should take action to validate them by legislation. This Act gives effect to this suggestion of the High Court. As the Saurashtra Hindu Divorce Act, 1952, follows subsequently the Bombay Act, divorces granted in similar circumstances under the Saurashtra Act are also validated.
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