TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (12) TMI 1213
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....lowed the application under the Senior Citizens Act 2007 and directed the appellant to vacate the suit premises. Aggrieved by this order, the appellant unsuccessfully pursued a writ proceeding under Article 226 of the Constitution before a Single Judge, and in appeal before a Division Bench of the High Court of Karnataka. The Division Bench by its judgment dated 17 September 2019 held that the suit premises belonged to the mother-in-law (the Second respondent) of the appellant and the remedy of the appellant for maintenance and shelter lies only against her estranged husband (the Fourth respondent). The Division Bench upheld the Order of the Deputy Commissioner, and directed the appellant to vacate the suit premises before 31 December 2019. Challenging the jurisdiction of the authorities^3 to decree her eviction under the Senior Citizens Act 2007, the appellant has moved this Court under Article 136 of the Constitution. 3 The appellant and the Fourth respondent were married on 30 May 2002. Soon thereafter, a matrimonial dispute arose between the parties. The appellant alleges that she was harassed for dowry and even compelled to institute a suit for partition against her father ....
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....i) A direction to the appellant and fourth respondent to pay an amount quantified at Rs. 25,000 towards legal expenses. The appellant filed an objection to the petition filed under the Senior Citizens Act 2007, alleging it to be a malicious proceeding that was instituted with the sole intent to evict her from the suit premises. The appellant also claimed that the proceedings were collusive in nature and an attempt by the Second and Third respondents and her estranged spouse (the Fourth respondent) to evict her from her matrimonial home. The appellant specifically raised an objection to the jurisdiction of the authorities to entertain the proceedings seeking her eviction from the premises. She submitted that while the Senior Citizens Act 2007 provides for the maintenance of a senior citizen or a parent, there is no provision envisaging an order of eviction, and that the authorities had no jurisdiction to direct her removal from the premises. 6 The Assistant Commissioner by an Order dated 25 June 2015, held that the residential house was the self-acquired property of the Third respondent which he subsequently gifted to the Second Respondent. The appellant was residing in the pr....
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....Single Judge did not address the submission. Aggrieved by the order of the Single Judge, the appellant challenged the order in a writ appeal. Once again, it was urged in the course of the hearing that the proceedings which were instituted under the Senior Citizens Act 2007 were only a device to oust the appellant and that the authorities had no jurisdiction to direct her eviction. The Division Bench reiterated the views of the Single Judge, and held that the appellant had no cause of action against the Second and Third respondents who owned the suit premises. It held that the appellant's claim for maintenance and shelter would lie only against the Fourth respondent. In dealing with the preliminary objection as regards the jurisdiction of the Assistant Commissioner to direct eviction, the Division Bench merely observed that it was not in agreement with the submission that "the Assistant Commissioner was powerless to pass an order directing dispossession of the appellant". B Submissions 9 The appellant, aggrieved by the judgement of the Division Bench of the High Court, has preferred the present special leave petition. Mr Yatish Mohan, learned Counsel appearing on behalf of the....
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....unsel appearing on behalf of the Second and Third respondents submits that: (i) Both the Second respondent (who is 72 years old) and the Third respondent (who is 82 years old) are senior citizens; (ii) The suit premises was constructed by the Third respondent- the father-in-law of the appellant, on a plot of land admeasuring 1200 square feet situated in Gangondanahalli, Bengaluru North Taluk. This was subsequently gifted to the Second respondent, the mother-in-law of the appellant; (iii) The appellant has been concurrently found to have ousted the Second and Third respondents from the property belonging to them and to have illegally entered into possession; and (iv) The Second and Third respondents filed an application under the Senior Citizens Act 2007 before the Assistant Commissioner for evicting the appellant and for the restoration of their possession, which has been allowed by the authorities and the High Court concurrently. 11 Dealing with the issue of jurisdiction, Mr Mahale submitted that (i) The Tribunal constituted under the Senior Citizens Act 2007 has the jurisdiction to pass appropriate orders for protecting the life and....
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....an interpretation should not be adopted. C Legislative scheme: Senior Citizens Act 2007 12 The rival submissions will now be analysed. 13 Our analysis of the rival submissions must begin with explaining and interpreting the salient feature of the Senior Citizens Act 2007 which have a bearing on the present controversy. 'Maintenance' is defined in an inclusive manner to incorporate, among other things, provisions for food, clothing, residence, medical assistance and treatment^13. In defining the expression 'property', the legislation uses broad terminology encompassing "property of any kind" and to include "rights or interests in such property"^14. Overriding effect is given to the provisions of the enactment by Section 3^15. Besides the definitions which are comprised in Chapter I, Chapter II is titled "Maintenance of Parents and Senior Citizens" while Chapter V is titled "Protection of Life and Property of Senior Citizen". The Statement of Objects and Reasons indicates the rationale for the enactment of the law: "Traditional norms and values of the Indian society laid stress on providing care for the elderly. However, due to withering of the joint family system, ....
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....rself and the children or relatives, as the case may be, neglect or refuse to maintain them, the Tribunal is empowered to order them to make a monthly allowance at such monthly rate for the maintenance of the senior citizen, as the Tribunal may deem fit^18. The amount of the monthly allowance can be altered inter alia upon a change in circumstances, under Section 10^19. 16 Of particular relevance to the facts of the case at hand is Chapter V, which enacts provisions for protecting the life and property of a senior citizen. Section 23 proceeds in the following terms: "23. Transfer of property to be void in certain circumstances.-(1) Where any senior citizen who, after the commencement of this Act, has transferred by way of gift or otherwise, his property, subject to the condition that the transferee shall provide the basic amenities and basic physical needs to the transferor and such transferee refuses or fails to provide such amenities and physical needs, the said transfer of property shall be deemed to have been made by fraud or coercion or under undue influence and shall at the option of the transferor be declared void by the Tribunal. (2) Where any senior ci....
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....ion (2) of Section 23 does not confine itself to a transfer by a senior citizen, unlike sub-Section (1). Sub-Section (2) uses the expression "such estate or part thereof is transferred". Where a senior citizen has a right to receive maintenance out of the estate and any part of it is transferred, sub-section 2 permits the enforcement of the right to receive maintenance out of the estate against a transferee with notice or against a gratuitous transferee. Sub-Section (2), in other words, may cover a situation where the transfer of the estate (in which a senior citizen has a right to maintenance) is by a third party, in which event, the provision provides the right to enforce the claim of maintenance against such transferee (other than those transferees for consideration or without notice of the pre-existing right). Arguably, the language of sub-section (2) is broad enough to also cover a situation where the transfer is by the senior citizen, in which event the transferee with notice of the right; or a gratuitous transferee, can be made subject to the enforcement of the right against the transferred estate. Another distinction between sub-Section (1) and sub-Section (2) of Section 23....
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....on to maintain the senior citizen. The Tribunal under the Senior Citizens Act 2007 may have the authority to order an eviction, if it is necessary and expedient to ensure the maintenance and protection of the senior citizen or parent. Eviction, in other words would be an incident of the enforcement of the right to maintenance and protection. However, this remedy can be granted only after adverting to the competing claims in the dispute. It is necessary to recapitulate that the situation in the present case is that the eviction was sought of the daughter-in-law, i.e. the appellant. The land, where the house has been constructed, was originally purchased by the son of the applicants who are seeking eviction of their daughter-inlaw. The son had purchased the property a few months before his marriage to the appellant. He had subsequently transferred the property by a registered sale deed to his father and the fact that it was for the same consideration after the lapse of several years is of significance. The father, in turn, executed a gift deed in favor of his spouse. The appellant has asserted that she had been living in the house, as her matrimonial residence, until the application ....
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.... definition. Where the definition of an expression in an enactment adopts a 'means and includes' stipulation, it is intended to be exhaustive. The 'means' part of the definition indicates what would normally fall within the ambit of the expression, while the 'includes' element gives it an extended meaning. Together they indicate that the legislature has provided for an exhaustive enumeration of what falls within the ambit of the definition. Justice G P Singh in his seminal treatise on the Principles of Statutory Interpretation^21 observes: "The Legislature has the power to define a word even artificially. So the definition of a word in the definitions section may either be restrictive of its ordinary meaning or it may be extensive of the same. When a word is defined to 'mean' such and such, the definition is prima facie restrictive and exhaustive." On the other hand, "includes" is titled so as to comprehend an extensive meaning: "Whereas, where the word defined is declared to 'include' such and such, the definition is prime facie extensive. When by an amending Act, the word 'includes' was substituted for the word 'means' in a definitions section, it was held th....
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.... has also been given an inclusive or extended meaning, which extends to a household which may belong to the joint family of which a respondent is a member, irrespective of whether the respondent or the aggrieved person have any right, title or interest in the shared household. The last part of the inclusive definition is intended to extend the meaning of a shared household to a situation where the household in fact belongs to a joint family, of which the respondent is a member. The legislature has made it clear that though neither the respondent, nor the aggrieved person in such case may have a right, title or interest in the shared household it would irrespective fall within the ambit of the definition. The meaning which has been attributed above to the plain language of the definition is in consonance with the judgment of the three judge Bench in Satish Chandra where it has been explained as follows: "55...the definition can be divided in two parts, first, which follows the word "means" and second which follows the word "includes". The second part which follows "includes" can be further sub-divided in two parts. The first part reads "shared household means a household....
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....nt by the husband. We have noticed the definition of "respondent" under the Act. The respondent in a proceeding under Domestic Violence Act can be any relative of the husband. In [the] event, the shared household belongs to any relative of the husband with whom in a domestic relationship the woman has lived, the conditions mentioned in Section 2(s) are satisfied and the said house will become a shared household." The Bench concluded that: "84...The definition of shared household given in Section 2(s) cannot be read to mean that shared household can only be that household which is household of the joint family of which husband is a member or in which husband of the aggrieved person has a share." E Harmonising competing reliefs under the PWDV Act 2005 and Senior Citizens Act 2007 20 Section 36^23 of the PWDV Act 2005 stipulates that the provisions of the Act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, the provisions of any other law for the time being in force. This is intended to ensure that the remedies provided under the enactment are in addition to other remedies and do not displace them. The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007....
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....f this Court in Pioneer Urban Land and Infrastructure Ltd. v. Union of India^26. In the present case, Section 36 of the PWDV Act 2005, albeit not in the nature of a non-obstante clause, has to be construed harmoniously with the non obstante clause in Section 3 of the Senior Citizens Act 2007 that operates in a separate field. 21 In this case, both pieces of legislation are intended to deal with salutary aspects of public welfare and interest. The PWDV Act 2005 was intended to deal with the problems of domestic violence which, as the Statements of Objects and Reasons sets out, "is widely prevalent but has remained largely invisible in the public domain". The Statements of Objects and Reasons indicates that while Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code created a penal offence out of a woman's subjection to cruelty by her husband or relative, the civil law did not address its phenomenon in its entirety. Hence, consistent with the provisions of Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution, Parliament enacted a legislation which would "provide for a remedy under the civil law which is intended to protect the woman from being victims of domestic violence and to prevent the occurrence of d....
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.... that a significant object of the legislation is to provide for and recognize the rights of women to secure housing and to recognize the right of a woman to reside in a matrimonial home or a shared household, whether or not she has any title or right in the shared household. Allowing the Senior Citizens Act 2007 to have an overriding force and effect in all situations, irrespective of competing entitlements of a woman to a right in a shared household within the meaning of the PWDV Act 2005, would defeat the object and purpose which the Parliament sought to achieve in enacting the latter legislation. The law protecting the interest of senior citizens is intended to ensure that they are not left destitute, or at the mercy of their children or relatives. Equally, the purpose of the PWDV Act 2005 cannot be ignored by a sleight of statutory interpretation. Both sets of legislations have to be harmoniously construed. Hence the right of a woman to secure a residence order in respect of a shared household cannot be defeated by the simple expedient of securing an order of eviction by adopting the summary procedure under the Senior Citizens Act 2007. 22 This Court is cognizant that the Se....
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....g speedy relief to its protected groups who are both vulnerable members of the society, is effectively realized. Rights in law can translate to rights in life, only if there is an equitable ease in obtaining their realization. 23 Adverting to the factual situation at hand, on construing the provisions of subSection (2) of section 23 of the Senior Citizen Act 2007, it is evident that it applies to a situation where a senior citizen has a right to receive maintenance out of an estate and such estate or part thereof is transferred. On the other hand, the appellant's simple plea is that the suit premises constitute her 'shared household' within the meaning of Section 2(s) of the PWDV Act 2005. We have also seen the series of transactions which took place in respect of the property: the spouse of the appellant purchased it in his own name a few months before the marriage but subsequently sold it, after a few years, under a registered sale deed at the same price to his father (the father-in-law of the appellant), who in turn gifted it to his spouse i.e. the motherin-law of the appellant after divorce proceedings were instituted by the Fourth respondent. Parallel to this, the appellant....
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....on against the appellant shall stand set aside with the consequence that the order of the Assistant Commissioner ordering and directing the appellant to vacate the suit premises shall stand set aside; (ii) We leave it open to the appellant to pursue her remedies under the PWDV Act 2005. For that purpose, it would be open to the appellant to seek the help of the District Legal Services Authorities and if the appellant does so, all necessary aid and assistance shall be furnished to her in pursuing her legal remedies and rights; (iii) IA 111352/2020 for restoration of the electricity connection is allowed by directing the Fourth respondent to take all necessary steps for restoration of the electricity connection to the premises within a period of two weeks from the receipt of a certified copy of this judgment. The Fourth respondent shall also continue to pay the electricity dues in future; and (iv) In order to enable the appellant to pursue her remedies under the PWDV Act 2005, there shall be an order and direction restraining the respondents from forcibly dispossessing the appellant, disposing of the premises or from creating any right, title and interest i....
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....tends to the needs of such parent either father or mother or both, as the case may be, so that such parent may lead a normal life. (4) Any person being a relative of a senior citizen and having sufficient means shall maintain such senior citizen provided he is in possession of the property of such citizen or he would inherit the property of such senior citizen: Provided that where more than one relatives are entitled to inherit the property of a senior citizen, the maintenance shall be payable by such relative in the proportion in which they would inherit his property. 17 8. Summary procedure in case of inquiry.- (1)In holding any inquiry under section 5, the Tribunal may, subject to any rules that may be prescribed by the State Government in this behalf, follow such summary procedure as it deems fit. (2) The Tribunal shall have all the powers of a Civil Court for the purpose of taking evidence on oath and of enforcing the attendance of witnesses and of compelling the discovery and production of documents and material objects and for such other purposes as may be prescribed; and the Tribunal shall be deemed to be a Civil Court for all the purposes of section 195 and ....