S. SHEEJA Vs. MAINTENANCE APPELLATE TRIBUNAL/DISTRICT COLLECTOR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) A very small issue; but in my view interpretatively decisive, has been thrown up in this writ petition: Is the wife of a deceased nephew of a senior citizen obligated, under the provisions of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, to maintain the senior citizen after the death of her husband solely because the senior citizen had, during the life time of the nephew, gifted certain properties to him with the reciprocal covenant to maintain her. The petitioner says, she is neither a "relative" of the senior citizen nor liable to maintain her and I will proceed to answer these contentions presently, after I record the most essential facts.

(2.) The petitioner assails Exts.P2 and P4 orders, issued by the Maintenance Tribunal and by the Appellate Tribunal respectively, constituted under the provisions of Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as Act for short), as per which she has been ordered to offer residence to the senior citizen-the 3rd respondent herein, in her home, which house had been earlier gifted by the 3rd respondent to the now deceased petitioner's husband.

(3.) The petitioner's foundational contentions in law, impelled to impugn the above orders, is that she is not a "relative", statutorily obligated to take care of the senior citizen she being only the wife of the nephew of the senior citizen; however, then expressly admitting that the house she is now residing in was gifted by the 3rd respondent-senior citizen to her husband with the covenant that he will take care of her.