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Though 'irretrievable Breakdown of marriage' is not a ground of divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act and Special Marriage Act. The Supreme court of India on dt. 4th oct. 2019 in civil appeal No. 4696/2013 R. sriniwaskumar V. R. Shametha has, in significant ruling, said divorce can be granted if a marriage is totally unworkable, emotionally dead and beyond salvage. Coming to the rescue of a man fighting a legal battle for divorce for a last two decades as his plea was bench of Justice S.K Kaul and MR shah invoked the SC's inherent power under article 142 to do "Complete Justice" and allowed the petition saying the marriage had broken irretrievably. In the case before the SC, the couple had been living for the last 22 years after their relationship ran into rough weather just a few years after marriage in 1993. The apex court in a series of verdicts has asked the Centre to amend the law to introduce irretrievable breakdown as a ground of divorce but the law remains unamended, and divorce is denied even if the couple are not living together for years and their relationship bruised beyond repair. This effective denies them an opportunity to explore life afresh as their marriage survives in law even if not in substance. Even the Law Commission, in its reports in 1978 and 2009, recommended the Centre to take "immediate action" to amend the laws with regards to "Irretrievable breakdown" whereas "wedlock become a deadlock". As the Centre failed to act on the Suggestion, the apex court has from time-to-time invoked Article 142 to grant divorce even though existing laws do not recognize the ground of divorce. "The Court, in a series of judgment's, has exercised its inherent power under article 142 of the Constitution of India for dissolution of a marriage where the court finds that the marriage is totally unworkable, emotionally dead, beyond salvage and has broken down irretrievably, even if the facts of the case do not provide a ground in law on which divorce could be granted", the court said. The SC said, "In present case, admittedly, the Husband and wife have been living separately for more than 22 years, and it will not be possible for the parties to live together. Therefore, we are of the opinion that while protecting the interest of the respondent wife and compensate her by way of lump sum permanent alimony, this is a fit case to exercise the power under Article 142 to dissolve the marriage between the parties." The bench rejected the wife's plea that the marriage cannot be dissolved without her consent and granted relief to husband after noting that all efforts to continue the marriage had failed and there was no possibility of a reunion because of the strained relations between the parties. "If both the parties to the marriage agree for separation permanently and/or consent for divorce, in that case, certainly both the parties can move the competent court for a decree of divorce by mutual consent. Only in a case where one of the parties does not agree... only then the power under Article 142 of the Constitution of India is required to be invoked to do the substantial justice between the parties, considering the facts and circumstances of the case".