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Samtola Devi v. State of Uttar Pradesh and Others

Civil Appeal · 2025 INSC 404Decided 27 Mar 2025
Civil Appeal (Arising out of SLP(C) No. 26651 of 2023)
Justice Pankaj Mithal · Justice S.V.N. Bhatti

Background

An elderly couple, Kallu Mal and Samtola Devi, had three sons and two daughters and owned a house with shops in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh, one of which their eldest son Krishna Kumar used for his utensil business. After the couple's relationship with Krishna Kumar soured, with allegations he mistreated and financially pressured them, they got a maintenance order against two sons and then sought Krishna Kumar's eviction from the house under the Senior Citizens Act, while separately transferring various parts of the property and plots to their daughters and son-in-law. A Maintenance Tribunal declined to order eviction (allowing Krishna Kumar to keep one room and the shop), an Appellate Tribunal reversed and ordered eviction, and the Allahabad High Court then set aside the eviction while keeping the other conditions; the wife (the husband having since died) appealed to the Supreme Court seeking eviction.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the High Court's refusal to evict Krishna Kumar. It reasoned that the parents' claim to be exclusive owners was itself in dispute: Krishna Kumar had pending civil suits challenging the gift and sale deeds by which his father had transferred parts of the property to the daughters and son-in-law, and claiming a 1/6th share for himself, so it could not yet be said the son had no right to remain. The Court also clarified that while its precedents allow a Tribunal under the Senior Citizens Act to order eviction in appropriate cases, this is discretionary, not mandatory, and the Appellate Tribunal here had given no reasoned finding that eviction was actually necessary to protect the senior citizens, especially since Krishna Kumar was continuing to pay court-ordered maintenance and there was no evidence of ongoing harassment after the Tribunal's earlier order.

Lesson Learnt

The Senior Citizens Act is primarily a maintenance law, not an automatic eviction remedy: a Tribunal may order eviction of a child or relative only where it is genuinely necessary to protect the senior citizen's welfare, and such an order cannot be passed mechanically while ownership of the property itself remains disputed in pending civil litigation.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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