JESSILKAITAR Vs. ADDITIONAL DISTRICT MAGISTRATE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Introduction: 1. Four brothers wrangle; they wrangle over their ancestral property--a tharavad house. Now the dispute centres on the electric connection to the house. One brother wants it; three others oppose it. So this writ petition. Facts in Brief:

(2.) Petitioner Jesil Kaitar and the respondents 3 to 5 are brothers, who succeeded to their ancestral property: land of 22.36 Ares with a tharavad house. Admittedly, the respondents 3 to 5 live elsewhere. They all maintain that they have no houses of their own, save the tharavad one. But they have forced themselves, so goes the claim, to live elsewhere because the house, eighty years old, has been dilapidated.

(3.) Jesil Kaitar, on the other hand, maintains that he lived in the tharavad property until 2006. Later, he secured employment and left for Bombay. Again, he came back in or about 2012. With no other accommodation, he wanted to live in the ancestral house. Because nobody lived in that house for a few years, the Department, however, disconnected the power supply to it. So Jesil Kaitar obtained a temporary connection in March 2012. It seems he has about three cents of land near the tharavad house. Jesil wanted to construct a house on that property. He could not, though. Then Jesil faced an allegation that from the adjacent property, he had the power drawn to the tharavad house, illegally. On the other brothers' complaint, the Department discontinued the temporary connection, through the Ext.P5. Though Jesil challenged the Ext.P5, too, here, he now gives up his claim on the temporary connection.