The Kerala High Court has directed Revenue authorities to allow an octogenarian living in an orphanage to reclaim a portion of her 81 cents of paddy land at Mulavukad in Ernakulam and fulfil her dream of living in her own house, on humanitarian considerations.
Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan, while recently allowing a petition by 85-year-old Sarojam L., ordered the Revenue authorities to find at least 10 cents out of the 81 cents owned by her and reclaim it for constructing a house, considering it as an exceptional case. The Revenue authorities had rejected her application for reclaiming the land to construct a house. According to her petition, she lives in an orphanage after the death of her husband and son.
The court said the balance of ecological conditions was a need for the citizen and not for the law. The woman wants to construct a house in her last days. The court cannot turn its face against this ground reality and reject the application saying that the reclamation of the property will adversely affect the ecological condition and cultivation in the adjoining paddy land.
Observing that this peculiar case was to be dealt with from a separate angle, the court said, ”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.”
