Elderly have the right over a house, kids only licensees: HC
COURT OBSERVES THAT A ‘NATION THAT CAN’T TAKE CARE OF ITS AGED... CANNOT BE REGARDED AS HAVING ACHIEVED CIVILISATION’
KOLKATA: The right of a senior citizen to exclusively reside in his own house must be viewed from the prism of Article 21 of the Constitution, the Calcutta high court observed as it directed the eviction of two family members from the house of an elderly man in Taherpur in West Bengal’s Nadia district.
The court also observed that a “nation that cannot take care of its aged, old and infirm citizens cannot be regarded as having achieved civilisation”.
Article 21 of Constitution states that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty, except according to procedure established by law.
The remarks were made in the order by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha on Friday after he virtually heard a petition of the senior citizen seeking eviction of his son and daughter-in-law from his house. Acting on a July 12 court order, Taherpur police escorted the petitioner’s son and daughter-in-law out of the property. “It is now well settled that the children and their spouses living in the senior citizen’s house are at best ‘licensees’. Such license comes to an end once the senior citizens are not comfortable with their children and their families,” Justice Mantha said in his order, which referred to orders earlier passed by the high courts of Delhi and Punjab and Haryana.
“Two issues would come up for consideration. The first of which is the availability of alternative remedy under the provisions of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents Senior Citizens Act, 2007. The other is a right of a daughter-in-law of residence to be provided by either the husband or the father-in-law, if directed by a competent court under the provisions of the Domestic Violence Act, 2005,” the order read.
Referring to an earlier order of the Supreme Court, the high court order said: “In the instant case, it is seen that no right of residence has been sought under any statute by the daughter-in-law.
Hence, this court is of the view that there is no impediment in allowing exclusive residential rights to senior citizens and to direct eviction of the son and daughter-in-law.”
“However, the right of a senior citizen to exclusively reside in his own house must be viewed from the prism of Article 21 of the Constitution of India. To compel a senior citizen to approach either a civil court (the jurisdiction of which is anyway barred under Section 27 of the 2007 Act) or take recourse to a special statute like the 2007 Act would in most cases be extremely erroneous and painful for a person in the sunset days of life,” the order passed by Justice Mantha read. “This court is therefore of the view that the principle of alternative remedy cannot be strictly applied to senior citizens and a writ court must come to the aid of a senior citizen in a given case,” it added.