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Issues: (i) Whether the authorities under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 could direct eviction of the daughter-in-law from the suit premises in the face of her asserted right of residence under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005; (ii) Whether the suit premises could be treated as a shared household so as to preserve the appellant's right of residence notwithstanding the subsequent transfers in favour of the in-laws.
Issue (i): Whether the authorities under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 could direct eviction of the daughter-in-law from the suit premises in the face of her asserted right of residence under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
Analysis: The Senior Citizens Act is a beneficial statute intended to secure maintenance and protection of life and property of senior citizens, including through summary procedures. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act is also a special welfare statute, and Section 36 makes its remedies cumulative. Section 3 of the Senior Citizens Act gives overriding effect to that Act, but such overriding force cannot be used to defeat the independent statutory protection of a woman's right of residence under Sections 17 and 19 of the Domestic Violence Act. Where two special statutes operate in the same field, they must be harmonised and the dominant purpose of both must be preserved. In a composite family dispute, the Tribunal must mould relief after noticing the competing claims, and an eviction order under the Senior Citizens Act cannot be used as a device to nullify rights under the Domestic Violence Act.
Conclusion: The eviction order could not stand against the appellant's claimed right of residence under the Domestic Violence Act.
Issue (ii): Whether the suit premises could be treated as a shared household so as to preserve the appellant's right of residence notwithstanding the subsequent transfers in favour of the in-laws.
Analysis: The definition of shared household in Section 2(s) of the Domestic Violence Act is exhaustive and protects a household where the aggrieved woman has lived in a domestic relationship, whether or not she has title or ownership. The right of residence under Sections 17 and 19 is not dependent on proprietary interest. The Court held that the appellant's claim had to be examined by the appropriate forum and could not be defeated merely because the property was later transferred to the parents-in-law or because the husband was living separately. The sequence of transfers and the pending matrimonial dispute indicated that the residence claim could not be bypassed through summary eviction proceedings under the Senior Citizens Act.
Conclusion: The appellant's claim that the premises constituted a shared household was preserved for adjudication by the appropriate forum, and it could not be extinguished by eviction under the Senior Citizens Act.
Final Conclusion: The appeal succeeded, the eviction directions were set aside, and the appellant was left at liberty to pursue her remedies under the Domestic Violence Act, with interim protection and ancillary reliefs granted to enable that course.
Ratio Decidendi: The right of a woman to residence in a shared household under the Domestic Violence Act cannot be defeated by summary eviction proceedings under the Senior Citizens Act, and both welfare statutes must be harmoniously construed so that each operates in its own field without nullifying the other.
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