On Friday Supreme Court discharged a notice on two petitions challenging Kerala High Court judgement of full bench which claimed that providing basic amenities and maintenance to parents in the transfer deed need to be cancelled under section 23 of the Maintenance and welfare of Parents and Senior Citizen Act, 2007.
Special leave petitions entitled “Subhashini v. District Collector and other” and “P.V Krishnamarar v. Jayanthi Anil Kumar and others.” Issued notice on the bench comprising Justice S K Kaul, Dinesh Maheswari and Hrishikesh Roy.
The Kerala High Court passed a judgement on September 22, 2020 held that the conditions mentioned under section 23(1) of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, for providing basic needs and amenities to senior citizens must be explicitly stated in the document of transfer.
Justice K Vinod Chandran, V G Arun and TR Ravi overruled the decision as it was not expressed in the document of transfer to be executed by parents in favor of their children. The full bench stated that moral and ethical contemplation cannot be invoked while explaining the statute provisions. The Court held that the statute provision is inspired by traditional values and should be retained strictly.
The child should look after their elderly parents is a thing of principle and values and for this there is no need of validation from scriptures and philosophical sources. The act attempts to provide a dignified existence to the elderly and the power mentioned under section 23(1) of the senior citizen.
The crux of the Court judgment held that the details should be present in the transfer deed so that the transferees shall provide the elderly with the basic physical needs and amenities to the transferor which is unjustified and deprives the right of senior citizens.
