#waiver of cooling period

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that the six-month waiting period under Section 13-B of the Hindu Marriage Act is directory, not mandatory, and may be waived when the marriage is irretrievably broken, reconciliation is impossible, and both parties consent to divorce. This empowers litigants to avoid prolonged emotional suffering and aligns procedural law with substantive justice in consensual divorce cases.

Chhattisgarh High Court waives the mandatory six-month cooling-off period under Section 13B(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act where spouses have lived separately for over a year, resolved all disputes, and jointly filed for divorce with full financial settlement. The ruling reinforces the Supreme Court’s Amardeep Singh precedent, offering expedited divorce for mutually consenting couples with no pending disputes.