As per the direction of Hon'ble Delhi High Court on 14.01.2015, the affidavit of assets, income and expenditure of husband and wife are necessary to determine the rights of the parties under Sections 24 to 27 (Maintenance etc..) of the Hindu Marriage Act and, therefore, should be filed by both the parties at the very threshold in order to curb the delay and expedite the trial in terms of Section 21-B of the Hindu Marriage Act.
The Hon'ble Delhi High Court directed that all pleadings including petitions under Sections 9 to 13 (Divorce etc. ) of the Hindu Marriage Act and the written statement shall be accompanied with an affidavit of assets, income and expenditure in the format provided in Annexure A and shall be accompanied by the relevant documents mentioned therein.
Earlier on September, 2014, the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in Puneet Kaur v. Inderjeet Sawhney [2011 (183) DLT 403] suggested that all petitions under Sections 9 to 13 of the Hindu Marriage Act to be accompanied with an affidavit of assets, income and expenditure of the petitioner and the respondent should file his/her affidavit of assets, income and expenditure within 30 days of the service of the notice along with the response of the petitioner's affidavit.
Affidavit suggested by the Hon'ble Delhi High Court in Kusum Sharma V. Mahinder Kumar Sharma case more detailed and very useful to assess the Assets, Liabilities and Financial Status of Husband and Wife in Maintenance and Divorce cases.