PRAYAGRAJ, July 15 -- The Allahabad high court has observed that the widely cited benchmark of awarding a wife 25% of a husband's net salary as maintenance is only a broad guideline and not mandatory.

A single bench of Justice Achal Sachdev said courts have the discretion to award a higher or lower amount depending on the facts of each case. The court also clarified that, for calculating maintenance, net income generally means income after mandatory deductions and taxes, not gross salary.

The observations came while deciding two connected criminal revisions-one by the wife, Pinki alias Preeti, seeking enhancement of the Rs.12,000 monthly maintenance awarded by a family court in Kanpur Dehat, and the other by the husband, Shri Jai Prakas...