An appeal under Section 16 of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, is maintainable by children and relatives of senior citizens, contrary to previous interpretations.

ORAL JUDGMENT

1. Rule. Rule made returnable forthwith. Heard finally by the consent of learned advocates for the parties.

2. In this writ petition, challenge is to the order dated 16.06.2023 passed by respondent no.1 – District Magistrate and Appellate Tribunal under Section 16 of the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 (hereinafter referred to as “the Act of 2007” for short).

3. The petitioners, pursuant to the order dated 20.04.2023 passed by the respondent no.2 – Tribunal, constituted under the Act of 2007, were directed to handover possession of the house property, described in the application, to the respondent no.1. The petitioners being aggrieved by this order, preferred an appeal before respondent no.1- Appellate Tribunal. The Appellate Tribunal, as can be seen from perusal of the impugned order, took note of the decision of the Madras High Court in K. Raju vs. Union of India and others in Writ Petition No. 29988/2019, dated 19.02.2021 and came to the conclusion that the appeal can be filed by a Senior Citizen or mother or father as per Section 16 of the Act of 2007. In short, the Appellate Tribunal has concluded that such an appeal is not maintainable at the behest of any other person, who has not been specifically mentioned in Section 16 of the Act of 2007. In the appeal, the Appellate Tribunal, keeping this principle fact in mind, has not dealt with the facts and evidence in detail. The Appellate Tribunal has also not considered the provisions of Section 23 of the Act of 2007 in detail.

4. I have heard Mr. A. M. Tirukh, learned advocate for the petitioner, learned Additional Public Prosecutor for the respondent nos.1 and 2 and Mr. P. U. Kavishwar, learned advocate for respondent no.3. Perused the record and proceedings.

5. As far as maintainability of an appeal under Section 16 of the Act of 2007 at the instance of children or relatives is concerned, the issue has been settled by the Larger Bench of this Court at Aurangabad in Jagdish Pitanbar Pawar vs. Pitambar Pundalik Pawar and others , in Writ Petition No. 36/2023, dated 29.11.2023 . The Larger Bench has held that an appeal under Section 16 of the Act of 2007 would be maintainable even at the instance of the children and relatives of a senior citizen.

6. In view of the decision of the Larger Bench of this Court, an appeal under Section 16 of the Act of 2007 at the behest of the petitioners was maintainable. The Appellate Tribunal would, therefore, be required to deal with and decide the appeal on its merits by taking into consideration the material placed on record by the parties and the provisions of the Act of 2007.

7. In view of the above, the Criminal Writ Petition is allowed.

(i) The impugned order dated 16.06.2023 passed by respondent no.1 – Appellate Tribunal in case No. MRC-81/Akola/45/ 2022-23, is set aside.

(ii) The matter is remitted back to respondent no.1 – Appellate Tribunal for decision of the same on merits, in accordance with law.

(iii) The parties are directed to appear before the Appellate Tribunal on 12th August, 2024.

8. Rule accordingly. The petition stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms.