Maintenance Tribunal voids four title deeds and returns a house and 1.28 acres to an 86-year-old in Wayanad

4 November 2026

A Maintenance Tribunal for senior citizens in Wayanad has ordered the return of a house and 1.28 acres of land to Thenothummal Gopalan Nambiar, who is 86. The childless couple had moved from their home at Thenothummal to Nileshwaram to live with a niece of his wife and her husband after the wife suffered a stroke. On the understanding that the couple would be looked after in old age, the title deeds of the property at Paliyana were transferred to the relatives, but the promised care did not follow and Nambiar left to stay at his sister's house. Members of a local pensioners' association petitioned the Tribunal on his behalf. After hearings before the Mananthavady Revenue Divisional Magistrate, Tribunal Chairman Athul Sagar ruled in his favour and directed the Vellamunda Sub-Registrar to void all four title deeds used to take over the land and house. Such tribunals work under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, whose Section 23 deals with transfers made on a promise of care.