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High Court order evicting hapless woman “draconian”

Legal Correspondent

Civil law in the matter completely disregarded: apex court

It was petition for relief, not civil suit for eviction
Action gross abuse of the due process of law

New Delhi: Taking a serious view of a Sikkim High Court order evicting a woman from her rented premises, the Supreme Court has asked High Courts to exercise caution in granting relief. It ordered restoration of the premises to her within a fortnight.

“What is of grave concern is the fact that the judges [of the High Court] completely disregarded the civil law relating to eviction and directed the writ petitioner to hand over possession of the tenanted premises [to the landlord],” said a Bench consisting of Justices Ashok Bhan and Justice Altamas Kabir.

Writing the judgment, Justice Kabir said: “The case is an example of how the writ courts have in recent times either forgotten or ignored the line between the relief which could be given by the civil courts and the constitutional courts. The judges [of the High Court] appear to have lost sight of the fact that they were deciding a writpetition for relief prayed for by the petitioner and not a civil suit for evicting her and that in such a proceeding no mandatory order of eviction could be passed and certainly not against the writ petitioner herself.”

Adding insult to injury

The Bench pointed out that after imposing costs of Rs. 1 lakh, the judges added insult to injury, directing the woman to vacate within a week the premises, from where she had been running her business for about 30 years.

Shanti Devi had sought a fresh trading licence in her name or transfer of the existing licence, issued in the name of her late husband Ram Nath Prasad, for continuing her family’s grocery-cum-stationery business in Ranipool district of east Sikkim. As no licence was given, she moved the High Court, which in June 2006 dismissed her petition.

On a contempt petition from the landlord, the court held her guilty and issued a non-bailable warrant with a direction to the Chief Judicial Magistrate to ensure that the woman was produced before the court. The District Collector/police authorities were also directed to break open the locks on Shanti Devi’s premises and hand over possession to the owner.

The apex court Bench, disposing of her appeal, criticised the High Court for adopting a “draconian, arbitrary and authoritarian” approach to evict a hapless widow from her rented premises in utter disregard for the law. Describing the action as a “gross abuse of the due process of law which cannot at all be sustained” the Bench set aside the order, restored possession of the premises to the woman and awarded her Rs. 25,000 as costs.

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