NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to grant divorce to a 54-year-old man who has been paying Rs 15,000 per month as maintenance to his estranged wife for the past 16 years, and asked him instead to consider a reasonable proposal for permanent alimony, according to a report by Bar and Bench. A Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta told the petitioner that if he wanted his plea for divorce to be considered, he should first indicate what he was willing to offer as permanent alimony.The man argued that even Rs 15,000 was a heavy burden on his monthly income of Rs 65,000. “Rs 15,000 is hardly anything these days…If you came up with an offer for permanent alimony we could have still considered (granting divorce)…(Else) Shaanti se baitho, dete raho 15,000, khush raho”, as quoted by Bar and Bench. The Court was hearing the man’s challenge to a high court order that had earlier dismissed his divorce plea. During the proceedings, the Bench also questioned why the couple could not continue living together. “Keep your wife with you. What is the problem?” the Court queried, as quoted by Bar and Bench. The man’s counsel submitted that the couple had been living separately for nearly 16 years and that repeated attempts at mediation had failed due to ongoing differences. However, the Court noted that the only ground of cruelty cited by the petitioner was his wife’s insistence on accompanying him wherever he was posted. The wife’s counsel, meanwhile, told the Court that she was not seeking permanent alimony and, in fact, was willing to resume living with her husband.