Q: Our daughter-in-law has left our house and has filed a domestic violence case against our son and us. My son wants to file a divorce suit against her on the grounds of (i) cruelty towards her husband and (ii) irretrievable breakdown of marriage. Regarding the latter, I have been told that the 2010 amendment bill of marriage laws recognises this as a valid ground for divorce. Is this true? How should we proceed legally on this issue?

K.K. Mukherjee, Howrah, West Bengal

A: Irretrievable breakdown or complete breakdown of marriage is the basic principle on which all divorce suits are filed before the courts. There is a proposal to make it an independent ground for obtaining divorce, but this is yet to become a law. In your son’s case, if he succeeds in proving cruelty committed by his wife, that alone would be enough grounds for getting a divorce.

Q:I was employed by a tea garden owner at his residence-cum-office in Calcutta in May, 2010, with a verbal promise of a monthly salary of Rs 5,000. The appointment letter did not mention any salary scale. After 15 days he paid me at the rate of Rs 3,500. When I left the job soon after, he did not pay the rest of my salary, citing financial constraints and promising to pay it later. I have not received it till date. Can I exercise any legal option to recover my salary?

Biswamoy Chakraborty, Calcutta

A: You could send a lawyer’s notice to your ex-employer, demanding settlement of your dues. Since your appointment letter does not state your salary and you have resigned from the job, instituting a case against your ex-employer may not prove worthwhile. However, you have the option of filing a money suit for the recovery of your salary.

Q:The flat owners’ association of our housing complex is not registered. Some of the flat owners have stopped paying the monthly maintenance charges on flimsy grounds. Can we stop providing them with facilities such as water supply, clearance of garbage and so on? If not, what legal action can we take against them?

S.K. Das, Calcutta

A: For the recovery of maintenance dues, your association can send legal notices, or institute money suits against the flat owners before the civil court with appropriate jurisdiction. Stopping of essential facilities such as water or electric supply for this reason would be highly illegal.

Please send your legal queries with your name and address to Legal FAQs, The Telegraph (Features), 6 Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001. Or email us at legalfaqs@abp.in. Readers are requested to please keep their queries short.