Preetha Shaji, the 51-year-old housewife who has been waging a long-drawn battle for almost half her life for saving her house and property at Pathadipalam near Edappally, vacated her home on Friday but not before opening another battlefront.
After her husband M.V. Shaji had agreed before the Kerala High Court to hand over the property to Thrikkakara Village Officer a couple of days ago, Ms. Shaji was left with no other option but to vacate the home with her family.
However, she pitched a tent right next to her beloved home to continue her protest, dubbed as ‘home watch protest,’ with the support of the Anti-Sarfaesi Peoples Movement, Manathupadam Parpida Samrakshana Samiti, and Blade Bank Japthi Virudha Samithi (BBJVS). Political analyst N.M. Pearson inaugurated the protest as soon as the village officer left with the key of the home.
“I will continue my peaceful protest till a just solution is found. The protest outside the home will continue till December 3 when the case is expected to come up before the court,” Ms. Shaji told The Hindu.
Mr. Shaji gave an undertaking to hand over the property after the court directed the village officer to file a report and place the keys of the building before the court while passing an order on a contempt petition filed by M.N. Ratheesh against the the city police for not implementing the High Court directive to evict Ms. Shaji’s family from the property. Ratheesh had bought Mr. Shaji’s property in an auction conducted by a bank following the failure of the latter’s relative to repay a loan. Shaji had stood as guarantor to one Sajan for a loan of ₹2 lakh by mortgaging his property of over 22 cents at Pathadipalam in 1994.
“The legal battle has been going on for some time. In 2010, Mr. Shaji had agreed to give seven cents with a market value of around ₹90 lakh to settle the dues with the bank. But the bank declined to accept it and auctioned off the property on the ground that ₹2.70 crore was due calculated at an interest rate of 21%,” said P.J. Manual, president, BBJVS.
The Debt Recovery Tribunal had passed an order on the matter in 2005 that the property shall be sold within three years though the bank had done so only after nine years.
Following this, Mr. Shaji moved the court citing that all procedures on that order shall be quashed. “However, the court asked them to hand over the property following which the family vacated it. The family does not intend to adopt a confrontational approach towards the court,” Mr. Manual said.