Cuttack: In a ruling reinforcing protection of senior citizens, the Orissa high court has set aside a collector’s order that had denied maintenance relief to an 83-year-old widow of Balasore, holding that the appellate authority acted “without jurisdiction.”Justice Ananda Chandra Behera, in a judgment on Monday, ruled that a son cannot invoke appellate provisions under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 to challenge a maintenance order granted to his mother.“The provisions of law envisaged in Section 16 of the Act, 2007 only empowers any senior citizen or a parent to prefer an appeal. Therefore, right of an appeal is only available to any senior citizen or a parent but not available to any other person like the son,” Justice Behera observed.The case arose after the widow, alleging neglect and lack of shelter following division of ancestral property by her two sons, secured an order from the sub-collector, Balasore-cum-presiding officer tribunal under Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, on Feb 29, 2024. The order directed one son to maintain her and the other son to pay her Rs 5,000 per month. While one son is a vegetable seller the other son is a home guard and they both are married.However, on an appeal filed by one son, the appellate tribunal of collector-cum-district magistrate, Balasore, on Nov 7, 2025, set aside the sub-collectors order and remitted the matter back for fresh inquiry. Challenging this, the mother moved the high court seeking restoration of the original relief.Considering the petition on merit, the judge concluded that the collector’s order “cannot be sustainable under law” and is “liable to be quashed,” thereby confirming the sub-collector’s Feb 29, 2024 order granting maintenance to the widow.
