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Thursday, 12 November 2026 Judgments, law jobs and study notes, written by a practising advocate
Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter X: Order For Maintenance Of Wives, Children And Parents

Section 146 BNSS: Alteration in allowance

Corresponding CrPC
Section 127 CrPC

Bare Act text

(1) On proof of a change in the circumstances of any person, receiving, under section 144 a monthly allowance for the maintenance or interim maintenance, or ordered under the same section to pay a monthly allowance for the maintenance, or interim maintenance, to his wife, child, father or mother, as the case may be, the Magistrate may make such alteration, as he thinks fit, in the allowance for the maintenance or the interim maintenance, as the case may be.

(2) Where it appears to the Magistrate that in consequence of any decision of a competent Civil Court, any order made under section 144 should be cancelled or varied, he shall cancel the order or, as the case may be, vary the same accordingly.

(3) Where any order has been made under section 144 in favour of a woman who has been divorced by, or has obtained a divorce from, her husband, the Magistrate shall, if he is satisfied that—

(a) the woman has, after the date of such divorce, remarried, cancel such order as from the date of her remarriage;

(b) the woman has been divorced by her husband and that she has received, whether before or after the date of the said order, the whole of the sum which, under any customary or personal law applicable to the parties, was payable on such divorce, cancel such order,—

(i) in the case where such sum was paid before such order, from the date on which such order was made;

(ii) in any other case, from the date of expiry of the period, if any, for which maintenance has been actually paid by the husband to the woman;

(c) the woman has obtained a divorce from her husband and that she had voluntarily surrendered her rights to maintenance or interim maintenance, as the case may be, after her divorce, cancel the order from the date thereof.

(4) At the time of making any decree for the recovery of any maintenance or dowry by any person, to whom a monthly allowance for the maintenance and interim maintenance or any of them has been ordered to be paid under section 144, the Civil Court shall take into account the sum which has been paid to, or recovered by, such person as monthly allowance for the maintenance and interim maintenance or any of them, as the case may be, in pursuance of the said order.

Text as enacted in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (Act No. 46 of 2023), in force from 1 July 2024. Source: India Code, Government of India.

In simple words

On proof of a change in circumstances of the person receiving or ordered to pay maintenance or interim maintenance under section 144, the Magistrate may alter the allowance as he thinks fit. Where a competent Civil Court's decision requires it, the Magistrate shall cancel or vary the order accordingly. For a woman who has been divorced or has obtained a divorce, the Magistrate shall cancel the order from the date of her remarriage; or where she has received the whole sum payable on divorce under any customary or personal law, from the date the order was made if payment came before it, or otherwise from the expiry of the period for which maintenance was actually paid; or from the date of the divorce where she voluntarily surrendered her maintenance rights. When a Civil Court makes a decree for recovery of maintenance or dowry, it shall take into account any sum already paid or recovered under the section 144 order.

Chapter X: Order For Maintenance Of Wives, Children And Parents

  1. 144 Order for maintenance of wives, children and parents
  2. 145 Procedure
  3. 146 Alteration in allowance
  4. 147 Enforcement of order of maintenance