Mangaluru: An elderly couple living at Suratkal, are on the verge of losing their house due to lack of awareness of government laws.
The couple, namely Felix and Stella Coelho, who are living in Suratkal from past 47 years, owned a land and a house at Panambur. However, they lost both after the government acquired the same for New Mangaluru Port Trust.
As the elderly couple was not aware of laws and regulations, they were unable to avail compensation or alternative land elsewhere. Hence, they gave up hopes and bought a 38-cent land at Suratkal from a third party, for which they used up all their savings.
It is gathered that the couple ran into trouble again as they received an order from the government some months ago, according to which the land they had purchased from the third party, came under the Prohibition of Transfer of Certain Lands (PTCL Act).
As per the PTCL Act, transfer of certain lands granted by the government to persons belonging to the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the state, is prohibited. Such property will be eventually acquired by the government and returned to the original owner without any compensation to the purchaser.
The couple then appealed in the court stating that the third party had not informed them about the Act. But even after spending a huge amount of money on the case, the couple lost the battle. The fifth additional sessions court upheld the PTCL Act and issued an order to hand over their land to the first party.
A notice was issued to Stella Coelho from the deputy commissioner on 24th April and after spending about three months in the same house living in fear of being evicted, the assistant commissioner and the land surveyor visited Stella’s house along with the other party, the actual land owner according to the court on 16th August, Wednesday.
The couple requested the government saying, “Let us live in this piece of land till we die. If not, please give us an alternative solution. Please consider our age. Otherwise, we will be forced to live in bus stands and streets."
After the visit to the elderly couple’s house, assistant commissioner Renuka Prasad said that the couple can apply for court order through RTI. They have the right to appeal in higher courts once they have the court order’s copy.
“I will submit the statement of both the parties to the concerned authorities and will follow the proceedings”, she added.