Shri.Ahmed Raza Khan And ANR v. Shri. Faiyaz Khan
IN THE HIGH COURT AT CALCUTTA
[ CIRCUIT BENCH AT PORT BLAIR ] *** MAT/65/2024 [IA NO: CAN/1/2024] Shri Ahmed Raza Khan and Another Vs.
Shri. Faiyaz Khan Mr. Asim Malik Mr. Roban Antony ... for the appellants Mr. K.Sabir ... for the respondent no.1 Mr. V. D. Sivabalan ... for the respondent no.2 December 12, 2024 [SR] Item no. 5 1.
The appellant no.1 and the appellant no.2 are father and son. The private respondent is their tenant.
2.
For the purpose of eviction of the private respondent from the property, initially owned by the father and later gifted to the son, the appellant no.1 took advantage of the provisions of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 approached the Senior Citizen Welfare and Maintenance Welfare Tribunal for relief.
3.
The relief was granted to the appellants. Thereafter, an appeal was preferred before the appellate forum which upheld the order passed by the Maintenance Tribunal. 4.
The private respondent thereafter filed a writ petition challenging the order passed by the Maintenance Tribunal affirm by the Appellate Authority in a writ petition being
WPA/345/2024. The same stood disposed of by the Hon'ble Single Judge vide judgment dated 09.09.2024.
5.
The Hon'ble Single Judge was of the opinion that the Tribunal constituted under the 2007 Act had no jurisdiction to receive, try and adjudicate the issue of eviction of the petitioner. 6.
The Court observed that if the jurisdiction of the Tribunal constituted under Section 7 of the 2007 Act is expanded to include a landlord-tenant dispute within the fold of Section 23 of the said Act, then the provisions of the Rent Legislation will become otiose.
7.
The Court further observed that the Tribunal under the 2007 Act cannot usurp the power of other competent court or Tribunals.
8.
We have heard the submission made on behalf of the appellants. We are convinced that the Tribunal erred in law in accepting the dispute raised by the appellants. The Tribunal simply does not have jurisdiction to entertain or decide on merits any dispute between the landlord and tenant. 9.
The 2007 Act was promulgated to provide for effective provisions for the maintenance and welfare of parents and senior citizen guaranteed and recognized under the Constitution and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The object of the Act is to ameliorate the deprivation caused to the parent by the children. It cast such obligation on the persons who inherit the property to maintain aged parents and relatives.
10.
In the instant case the father does not have any allegation against the son. In fact, the father and son both are appellants
in the instant writ petition. They want to evict their tenant. They ought to avail the remedy before the competent court. The Maintenance Tribunal is not the competent forum to deal with a dispute between a landlord and a tenant.
11.
In view of the above, the appeal fails and is hereby dismissed. The connected application is also dismissed. 12.
It will be open for the appellants to approach the competent forum for relief.
13.
Urgent certified copy of this order, if applied for, be supplied to the parties upon compliance of usual formalities. ( Amrita Sinha, J. ) ( Uday Kumar, J. )