Gawahati:
The Assam government is set to roll out a law from October 2 making it mandatory for state government employees to look after their aged and dependent parents and differently-abled siblings who do not have a source of income.
Last year, the state assembly had passed Assam Employees Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring (PRANAM) Bill, 2017 – which makes all these compulsory.
Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that if a particular government employee does not look after his or her parents then 10 per cent of their salary would be deducted and transferred to their parents' accounts.
"If a particular government employee does not take good care of his or her parents then we will deduct 10 percent from their salary and transfer it to their parents' account," Biswa told reporters here.
He further said that if there is any sibling that the parents need to take care of then the salary cut may go up to 15 percent.
"If there is any sibling that the parents need to take care of then the salary cut may go up to 15%," Biswa said.
Reportedly, Assam will be the first state in the country to enforce such a law.
If ill-treated, elderly parents can take back property gifted to son, rules Bombay HC
Earlier, the Bombay high court had ruled that the elderly parents can take back a share in their property given to a son as a gift if he fails to look after them or harasses them,
Citing the special law for the maintenance of senior citizens, a division bench of Justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudesai upheld a tribunal's order that had cancelled a gift deed given by an elderly Andheri resident by which he had granted 50% share in his flat to his son.
"The gift deed was made at the request of the son and his wife. It is implied that the elderly father and as well his second wife would be looked after by them after transfer of 50% share in the flat," said the judges.
"Obviously, the son and his wife though ready and willing to look after the father were unwilling to do so in respect of the second wife. In the above circumstances, we do not find any error in the order (cancelling the gift deed), therefore, we are not inclined to entertain this petition," said the court and dismissed the petition filed by the son.
The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 has provisions that protect parents and elderly persons who have signed away their property or assets to a person so that they would be taken care of, but are then left destitute. If a senior citizen has signed an agreement after 2007 to transfer his or her share in the property, for example through a gift deed on the condition that their basic needs would be taken care of, but the person refuses to honour the agreement, then a maintenance tribunal is empowered to quash the agreement.