JUDGMENT

Manoj Bajaj, J. (Oral)

The above writ petitions have been filed separately by son and father, respectively to challenge the order dated 22.03.2018 passed by Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate, Hoshiarpur, whereby the order dated 29.03.2016 passed by Sub-Divisional Magistrate-cum-Presiding Officer, Maintenance Tribunal, Dasuya granting maintenance of Rs.6,000/- per month to Kewal Singh (father) under sections 4 and 23 Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 was modified by reducing it to Rs.2500/- per month and further directed the son to provide one room to the parents.

2. Briefly, the facts leading to the writ petition are that Kewal Singh s/o Lashkar Singh brought an application under sections 4 and 23 Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 against his son, namely, Sukhwinder Singh on the ground that he constructed his residential house from his own earnings, without any contribution from respondent (son), where he along with his wife was residing, but after his son's marriage, he started giving abuses to them and turned them out of the house. The applicant's wife is suffering from a disc ailment and their son on number of occasions misbehaved with them, therefore, he prayed that the son be directed to provide him maintenance.

3. The petition was contested by Sukhwinder Singh, who appeared and stated that he is taking good care of his father-Kewal Singh in all respects and is providing food, clothing and other facilities. According to him, Kewal Singh being drunkard harassed him and his family. It was highlighted that his father is constructing a house upon the land of his brother, whereas the respondent is serving Indian Army and had built his house with his own income. According to Sukhwinder Singh, his father is unnecessarily causing harassment to him.

4. During the proceedings before the SDM-cum-Presiding Officer Maintenance Tribunal, Dasuya, Paramjit Singh and Sarpanch Baldev Singh residents of village Pandori, Tehsil Dasuya appeared and made a joint statement that the respondent Sukhwinder Singh is living in his ancestral house and his father is causing harassment to him.

5. After examining the parties and their statements, the SDM- cum-Presiding Officer Maintenance Tribunal, Dasuya vide order dated 29.03.2016 accepted the application of Kewal Singh and directed Sukhwinder Singh to pay a sum of Rs.6000/- p.m. to the parents.

6. Aggrieved against this decision, an appeal was preferred by Sukhwinder Singh and the same has been partly accepted by the Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Magistrate, Hoshiarpur vide impugned decision dated 22.03.2018. The appellate authority directed Sukhwinder Singh to spare one room for the parents in the house, where he is living and also directed him to pay a sum of Rs.2500/- p.m. towards expenses.

7. Aggrieved against the order passed by appellate authority, the above writ petitions have been filed by both the parties.

8. Mr. Munish Gupta, learned counsel for Sukhwinder Singh has argued that the application filed by father-Kewal Singh is not supported with any convincing material to establish that the son is neglecting the parents, who after serving the Army has retired. He further submits that the father being a man of bad habits had been causing harassment to the son, who did not disclose in his application that he himself is a retired Army personnel and is drawing a pension of Rs.30,000/- per month. Learned counsel has drawn the attention of the Court to the grounds of the appeal, wherein it is specifically pleaded that the respondent's father is having independent income, who is drawing two pensions from Indian Army as well as Defence Cores Services (DCS) total amounting to