In case if a son and his father have a dispute, the son can’t forcibly inherit the property of his father. This is stated by the Tis Hazari Court in its one of the verdicts. Actually an old man was being harassed by his own son as the latter occupied his father’s house and was not even looking after him. So the father moved to the court to seek the help. He filed the suit against his son in the court by saying that the accused hadn’t been paying rent for the last many years but previously was paying rent regularly; he hadn’t mentioned in the case that the accused was his own son. That showed how much the father was in deep depression. But in reply the son clarified that the landlord was his own father and he had been living there in his own ancestral property. He also stated that he had spent money in the construction of the said property and as such the house was the joint property of his parents as well as of his grand mother. Therefore he was automatically the legal heir of the property. Apart from it he added that he regularly gave his father one thousand rupees every month as for his care. Apart from this his father had threatened him many times that he would get him trapped in some false cases, for which he had already lodged complaints twice against his father in the police station, first in October 1998 and second in August 2000.
This case took ten years in getting decision. At last the court gave its verdict in favor of the father. The Court observed, ‘If the father was getting rent from his son earlier, the son must continue it. Now as the son had not paid the rent, he was ordered to vacate the house.’ It is thus really amazing that the father had never mentioned during the whole trial that the tenant was his own son.
There are some points when the landlord can get his house vacated from his tenant, which are as follows. If a tenant doesn’t pay rent in time he has to vacate the house whether he is a relative or a kid of the landlord. Another situation arises if the house is not in living condition and it needs repair or the owner needs the house for his own purpose. The tenancy can be terminated in such situations.
It does not mean that all the powers are in favor of the landlord but the tenant also has some rights. Getting the water and electricity connection and demanding the receipt of the rent are the rights of the tenant. The tenant may also move to the Court if he feels the rent is exorbitant. On dispute, the tenant can deposit the rent in the court. In case of argument, when the landlord disconnects the water and electricity connections the concerned authority will provide him the connections without NOC; the Supreme and the High Courts both have already given such judgments.
At last the old man got justice though he might get a little relief from the court because his son may go to high court against the lower court’s decision. Even if he doesn’t go to the higher court, the father may feel something emotionally bad as he is ultimately his own son.