"Caring For Old People Is Our Greatest Responsibility": Kerala HC Makes Exception For Senior Citizen, Allows Reclamation Of Water-Logged Land To Build House

Justice P V Kunhikrishnan observed that the Constitutional Court has to step in to fulfil the dream of an 85-year-old lady, to make her believe that she was not an orphan and that the Court and every citizen were with her. Permitting the senior citizen to reclaim 10 cents of her land out of 81 cents of water-logged land, the Court stated thus:

I am of the considered opinion that the respondents should take this as an exceptional case to see that the petitioner is constructing a house in any part of the 81 cents where there is less chance of adversely affecting the ecological condition. Balance of ecological conditions is a need for the citizen and not for the law. The petitioner, who is an 85-year-old lady, wants to construct a residential house in her last days of life. She is an orphan residing in an orphanage. Her husband and son already died. I am of the considered opinion that this Court cannot turn its face to this ground reality and reject the application stating that the reclamation of the property will adversely affect the ecological condition and the cultivation in the adjoining paddy land.

The petitioner was an 85-year-old woman whose husband and only son had died. Her relatives abandoned her and she was currently living in an orphanage. She invoked the writ jurisdiction of the Court seeking permission to construct a residential house on her only property of 81 cents of water-logged land contrary to the provisions of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wet Land Act, 2008 and the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wet Land Rules, 2008.

The only last wish of the octogenarian was to reside in her own house before her death. The people in the locality were ready to help her construct a house if she could reclaim 10 cents of land out of her 81 cents of property.

The application submitted by the petitioner was rejected stating that the construction of a house on the water-logged property would affect the environmental system and that others would also claim reclamation of land in similar ways. The petitioner submitted that there were houses situated in the surrounding property and that she should also be permitted to build a house in her only property.

Analyzing the provisions of the Act, the Court noted that the District Collector could constitute a District Level Authorised Committee for considering applications for reclamation of paddy land for the construction of residential buildings. It stated that Section 9 of the Act provides conditions under which such an application has to be considered.

The Court found that reclamation of paddy land was possible for the construction of residential houses only if it did not adversely affect the ecological condition and the cultivation in the adjoining paddy land; the owner of the paddy land or his family do not own a suitable land for this purpose in the District; the building to be constructed is for his purpose and such paddy land is not situated surrounded by other paddy land.

Considering the above conditions and taking note of the fact that this was the only property left with the octogenarian, the Court stated that it could not dismiss the request of the senior citizen who was now residing in an orphanage.

The Court, considering the plight of the 85-year-old woman who had invoked its writ jurisdiction seeking permission to build a shelter in her last days, stated that this was a peculiar case and had to be dealt differently. 

“Caring for all old people is perhaps the greatest responsibility of all of us. They are the people who walked before us. We should respect their last ambitions in a pragmatic manner. The senior citizens who walked before us have given so much and made possible the life we all enjoy.”

Accordingly, the Court permitted the petitioner to reclaim her land for the construction of a house and stated that this decision shall not be treated as a precedent.

Counsel for the Petitioner: Advocate A S Sabu

Counsel for the Respondents: Government Pleader Devishri R

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Ker) 86

Case title: Sarojam L v State of Kerala

Case number: WP(C) NO. 3304 OF 2024