Kerala High Court order helps 85-yr-old woman reclaim her land

Kochi: After the intervention of the Kerala High Court, an 85-year-old woman is to get a home of her own on her land, which is a waterlogged property. The Court had directed the local administration to clear 10 cents of her property so that she could reclaim it and build a house, PTI reported.

She is living in an orphanage since her husband and son died.

She was denied permission to reclaim her 81 cents of land after the Agricultural Officer assessed that clearing the land for her would affect the environmental system of the area.

However, Justice P V Kunhikrishnan directed the authorities concerned to "take this as an exceptional case" and earmark the portion of the land which can be reclaimed with less chance of adversely affecting the ecological condition of the area.

"It is true that in certain cases, the law will be too strict; but the Court has to look into the ground reality in certain circumstances and decide the matter accordingly. Sometimes the law is an 'ass' as observed by Charles Dickens in 'Oliver Twist'. In such a situation, the constitutional court should step in.

"This is a fit case in which the constitutional court and the respondents (authorities) should come forward to see that the dream of this 85-year-old lady is fulfilled and to tell the whole world that the petitioner (woman) is not an orphan and the court and every citizen of this country is behind her," Justice Kunhikrishnan said in his order of January 30.

The court directed the authorities to find at least 10 cents of land out of the 81 cents owned by the woman for the purpose of constructing a residential house and allow her to reclaim that part of the property.

"This should be done within 3 weeks because every day is important to this octogenarian who is now 85-years-old," the court said.