Karnataka High Court differs with other HCs and says only parents have right of appeal before DC under Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act

High Court of Karnataka rules only senior citizens or parents can appeal under Maintenance and Welfare of Parents Act.

Disagreeing with the judgments of a few other High Courts, the High Court of Karnataka has declared that only senior citizens or parents have the exclusive right to file an appeal before the Deputy Commissioner (DC) against an order passed by the Assistant Commissioner (AC) under the provisions of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.

Section 23 of the Act stipulates that if a senior citizen/parent transfers property, whether as a gift or otherwise, with the condition that the transferee (children or others) will provide basic amenities and physical needs and the transferee subsequently fails or refuses to fulfil these obligations, the senior citizen/parent may file an application before the AC for declaring such transfer as void. And, Section 16 gives the right of appeal to senior citizens/parents before the DC if they are aggrieved with the order passed by the AC.

“The language of Section 16 of the Act is plain, clear, and unambiguous. This provision specifically and unequivocally grants the right of appeal exclusively to senior citizens. Extending this right to any other person, including the transferee [children or third parties], is not permissible,” observed a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice N.V. Anjaria and Justice K.V. Aravind in its recent order.

Interpreting Section 16 of the Act, the Bench said that to provide a right of appeal to the transferee or any other person, other than senior citizens or parents, would amount to rewriting the provision, a function that lies beyond the jurisdiction of the courts.

“When the text of Section 16 of the Act is read and understood in light of the object and reasons behind the legislation, it becomes abundantly clear that Parliament intended to provide the remedy of appeal under Section 16 solely to senior citizens or parents. Any alternative interpretation would lead to an absurd outcome, which is not permissible,” the Bench observed.

If the children or transferee is aggrieved by an order under Section 23 of the Act, they are not without a remedy, the Bench said, while pointing out that they (children or transferee) can always invoke Article 226 of the Constitution to approach the High Court against orders passed by the AC.

On disagreeing with the judgments of other High Courts, which have held that transferee/children too have the right to appeal before the DC, the Bench said that “it respectfully disagrees to endorse such views”.