CHILDREN ARE BOTHERING AND HARASSING THE ELDERLY IN ORDER TO TAKE OVER THE PROPERTY - BOMBAY HC

The Bombay HC upheld an order passed by the Welfare Tribunal and Deputy Collector, Mumbai City, to remove musician Shweta Shetty from her father's house. The A Bench of Justices GS Patel and Madhav Jamdar observed that senior citizens are being harassed by their children to grab their property.

"A trend in Mumbai has been seen and particularly amongst the wealthy - children are harassing the elderly in order to grab their property while they were still alive. They do not even consider the physical and mental well-being of the senior citizen."

Shweta Shetty filed a Writ Petition against the order passed by the Tribunal in a complaint filed by her father, Mr. Shetty (94-year-old). As per the complainant, he is the sole owner of his house, and his daughter has no rights over it. The complainant's grievance was that with the several age-related ailments of differing degrees of severity, he was being harassed and mistreated by his daughter. The petitioner began to harass the complainant for her share of the property.  

Advocate Pradeep Thorat, appearing for the Shweta Shetty, argued that the Tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain an application for eviction. Bypassing an order, the Tribunal had not only acted out of jurisdiction but proceeded on significant procedural illegality. 

The Court disregarded the contentions made by the petitioner and said that "What is her 'share' while he is alive? none. He may indeed give his flat, but that is his choice. As long as he is alive, Shweta has no 'share' in the complainant's property." 

The bench refused to interfere with the Tribunal's order and ordered Shweta Shetty and the three other daughters to stay away from the flat until the case's final verdict. 

Author: Papiha Ghoshal