On Friday, the High Court of Calcutta upheld the right of a senior citizen from Taherpur in Bengal’s Nadia district to reside in his house & said his son & daughter can be evicted as they are “at best licensees” living in the property.
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, the Court said.
The order was passed on July 23 by Justice Rajasekhar Mantha after he virtually heard lawyers representing petitioner Ramapada Basak & the state.
The Judge said that “A nation that cannot take care of its aged, old & infirm citizens cannot be regarded as having achieved complete civilization".
Acting on an order the court passed on July 12, the Taherpur police had escorted the petitioner’s son & daughter-in-law out of the property. The petitioner moved the court seeking their eviction.
“It is now well settled that the children & their spouses living in the senior citizen’s house are at best “licensees”. Such licence comes to an end once the senior citizens are not comfortable with their children & their families,” Justice Mantha said in his order which referred to orders earlier passed by the Delhi HC & the Punjab & Haryana HC in similar cases.
The Order said that “Two issues would come up for consideration. The first of which is the availability of an alternative remedy under the provisions of the Maintenance & 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".
Referring to an order from the Apex Court, the HC 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 residentiary rights to the senior citizens & to direct eviction of the son & 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 any way 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 & painful for a person in the sunset days of life,” said the order passed by Justice Mantha.
The Order said that “This court is therefore of the view that the principle of an alternative remedy cannot be strictly applied to senior citizens & a writ court must come to the aid of a senior citizen in a given case,".
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