🍁 These two stories from Punjab show that Laws to evict unauthorised occupants of buildings by INTERIM MANDATORY injunctions need to be evolved or revisited by High Courts or by Supreme Court 🍁

These two stories came to me in last week.

1) A 76 year old man said, his house has been unauthorisedly occupied by his own brother.

“Did you file suit for eviction?” I asked.

He said, “Suits take many years. So he had instead approached Tribunals set for Protection of Senior Citizens. The Tribunal gave a vague judgement. So now he will have to go to High Court.

I looked at this 76 year old man in fragile health. I was not sure how long he will live on to fight his case.

2) Second story is also from Punjab. Here, a neighbour unauthorisedly occupied house of an elderly woman in 2005.

She filed eviction suit in 2005. The neighbour was advised not appear in suit at all and let the court pass exparte judgement.

After evidences were given, after 5 years judge passed exparte decree of eviction in favour of woman.

Then neighbour appeared in case and moved an application for setting aside exparte judgement… But cleverly, he did not file application for condonation of delay. He filed it very late. Idea was to keep prolonging case.

His application for set aside judgement was refused by two courts.

Then he filed third revision petition in High Court.

High Court set aside exparte decree eviction and directed suit to expediously. It means wheels of justice moved backward to year 2005.

The woman who had filed suit for eviction has however died.

She did not live long enough to see the case to reach a logical end 😔😔😔

🍁The vacuums of Laws which apear to me here are in two areas :-

A) When courts can pass mandatory order of eviction of unauthorised occupants ? What are the criterias ?

B ) Supreme Court has in last April held that the courts should not give any protection of stay against dispossession to unauthorised occupants of premises….

But then what is the fall out of the law…?

Does it mean that unauthorised occupants can be evicted through policeman ? What relief court can give? Can it give direction to police to disposses unauthorised occupant overstaying in premises of elderly people who are too weak to start a legal battle..? In what circumstances courts can give such orders to Police?

I am not sure about certainty of laws in these areas.

Haresh Raichura
20/12/17

S-68 Tips for Young Advocates : 🍁How many Laws a Lawyer need to know ?🍁

There are thousand and thousands of laws. How many Laws a Lawyer needs to know?

When I was a young lawyer, a senior advocate told me this method.

If a client asks a question and you do not know answer, just tell him, “Right now I am busy. Give me your papers, I will call you when I have read them.”

This way, you get time to either read that law or to get guidance from your friends.

But how many Laws a Lawyer needs to learn?

There are over 20,000 laws, rules, circulars curtailing rights of a common man.

A) Know about some basic principles of law which will be applicable to all the 20,000+ laws. For example, Law of Natural Justice, Law of Evidence, etc, etc..

Few Lawyers deeply study law of Evidence and Law of Natural Justice though they are universally applicable in almost all laws of world.

B) Secondly, learn to find “Where to find law” that governs the case. There are volumes of Central Acts and Rules, Volumes of State Acts and Rules. You can find most of laws here. You need not learn all these laws. But you need to learn how to locate the law.

Haresh Raichura 18/12/16 (Reposted from blog)