Expressing concern over the ‘erosion’ of the family’s organization, the Supreme Court said that people in India believe in the principle of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, but fail to remain united with close relatives as well. The apex court made this comment while disposing of the petition of 68 -year -old Samatola Devi of Uttar Pradesh. Samatola demanded his eldest son Krishna Kumar to be evicted from his family home in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh.
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A bench of Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice SV N Bhatti said, “In India, we believe in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, that is, the whole earth is a family.” However, we are not able to maintain unity in our family as well, it is a distant thing to create a family for the world. The concept of ‘family’ is getting over and we are standing on the verge of a family. It was brought before the back in the record that a person named Kallu Mal (who later died) and his wife Samatola Devi had five children- three sons and two daughters. Samatola Devi had a house with three shops in Sultanpur. Over time, there were disputes between parents and their sons, especially Krishna Kumar, who handled the family business. In 2014, Kallu Mal accused Krishna Kumar of misbehaving and requested the SDM to take appropriate action against him as per the law. In 2017, the couple demanded maintenance. The family court approved the couple at Rs 8000 per month, which was to be paid equally to two sons, Krishna Kumar and Janardan.
In 2019, an application was given to evict son, High Court pronounced verdict in favor of son, Supreme Court remains intact
In 2019, Kallu Mal and his wife filed a petition to evict Krishna Kumar. The tribunal ordered him not to encroach on any part of the house without the permission of his parents but did not order eviction. Dissatisfied with this decision, the parents appealed before the Appellate Tribunal, who ordered Kumar to be evicted but later the High Court reversed it. Meanwhile, Kallu Mal died while pending the case in the High Court. After his death, his wife continued legal proceedings and demanded the Supreme Court demanding to evict his son. She argued that her husband had self-abusive assets and Krishna Kumar had no legitimate claim to live there. However, the apex court upheld the High Court order.
After handing over the house to the daughter -in -law, he is no longer the owner
The Supreme Court said, there is no special provision in the provisions of the Senior Citizens Act to take action to evict people from any premises owned or related to any senior citizen anywhere. If this claim is accepted that Kallu Mal had the own property acquired and only had them, then when they transferred it to their daughters and son -in -law, they are no longer the owner of it. In that case, neither Kallu Mal nor his wife has any right to evict anyone living in the house.
There is no evidence to humiliate the son’s parents
The bench said, there is no such complaint or evidence in the records that Krishna Kumar insulted his parents or interfered with them in any way. The court said that ordering Krishna Kumar to be evicted does not seem conscious because he also has a license to stay in the house as a son.