Senior citizens can evict their children from ancestral property, rules Delhi High Court
The woman had claimed that the Delhi Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Rules entitled a senior citizen to seek eviction of his son, daughter or his legal heirs on account of ill-treatment, but the rules excluded the daughter-in-law.
A senior citizen can seek eviction of his son, daughter or legal heir from an ancestral or self-acquired property, the Delhi High Court has held, while dismissing a woman’s plea who allegedly subjected her in-laws to cruelty. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao upheld the July 18 order of a single judge and a district magistrate, who had directed her to vacate the first-floor of her in-laws’ house. “It is hightime that senior citizens/parents are allowed to live in peace and tranquility, the orders passed by the Maintenance Tribunal and the Single Judge cannot be faulted,” the bench said.
The woman had claimed that the Delhi Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Rules entitled a senior citizen to seek eviction of his son, daughter or his legal heirs on account of ill-treatment, but the rules excluded the daughter-in-law. But the bench concurred with the findings of the single judge that excluding the daughter-in-law from the said rules would “debilitate” provisions of the rules and render them incapable of serving the object of safeguarding the rights of senior citizens. The court added that the woman has no right, title and interest in the premises, and cannot insist on residing with her in-laws.
“..Under the Delhi Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Rules, a senior citizen/parent can seek eviction of son, daughter or legal heir from an ancestral or self-acquired property, the vires of which Rule has not been challenged by the appellant in these proceedings nor before the learned Single Judge. As long as the said Rules exist, the order of the Tribunal giving impugned directions cannot be faulted,” the court said.
As per the case, woman had uncordial relations with her husband and her in-laws. She had instituted domestic violence proceedings against her in-laws, and her husband had filed for divorce. However, the in-laws had also contended that the woman misbehaved with them and subjected them to physical violence, following which, they claimed, they were compelled to lock themselves in a room. According to the case, for the last several months the woman’s husband had not been staying at his parent’s house, during which the father-in-law filed a plea before the district magistrate, seeking eviction of his son and daughter-in-law from the premises.