20130912
THE PERSON
THE PETITIONER a citizen of India by birth and domicile, was born and
bred in a village in the Malabar coast of peninsular India in a lower
middle class family.
He
had his early EDUCATION in the nearby schools and colleges. He
matriculated from the Madras University in the first class as the
best outgoing student of Mahe de La Bourdonnais college, Mahe, South
India, his Alma Mater. He has a first class bachelor's degree in
science, the only first class in life sciences from his college in
his batch and was selected for studying medicine in government
medical colleges in Kerala based on the marks he had scored in the
above examination. All his ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENTS were kind courtesy
his teachers in the government schools and colleges where he studied;
he never had any private tuition.
The
petitioner is an unbeliever and has no god nor religious faith. He
is not a member of any organization, political, religious or
otherwise. He does not believe in preaching and is a very private
person who strictly minds his own business.
He
has been living well within his means and in spite of his poor
circumstances has not incurredi
any debt. The petitioner was never married and has all through been
living alone. A self-contained person, he was managing every thing,
including the household chores, on his own without ever bothering
anyone else for anything.
An
old student of Medical College, Trivandrum, the petitioner has an
M.B.,B.S., degree from the Kerala University and registration with
the Travancore - Cochin medical council.
He
had a ten year stintii
in the Indian Army as a short service commissioned officer in the
Army Medical Corps. His first five years in the rank of a Captain was
followed by another five years in the rank of Major. Seven out of the
ten years in the Indian Army was in field areas and of those seven
years he was in high altitude for more than one year. During the
remaining three years he was in charge of a fifteen bed section
hospital of the indian army in a remote village in central India as
the sole officer, medical or otherwise.
Upon
release from the army after successful completion of the contractual
period the petitioner joined duty as Lecturer in the Dept. of
Physiology of Govt. T.D.Medical College, Alleppey in August 1993; he
had been given an appointment as Lecturer in Physiology in the
Medical Education Service of the Government of Kerala in 1983 after
being duly selected for the above post by the Kerala Public Service
Commission and had availed joining time till his release from the
army.
The
petitioner, a noviceiii
at teaching, spent an enjoyable and most rewarding period of two
years in the Govt. T. D. Medical College, Alleppey, teaching
medical Physiology, to the M.B.,B.S., degree students.
Edgediv
on by his apparent success as a teacher and with a view of doing
better justice to his students, the petitioner took the entrance
examination for post graduate courses in the medical colleges in
Kerala, and based on his performance in the above examination he
managed to get selection for the M.D., degree course in Physiology.
The petitioner moved to govt. medical college Trivandrum as post
graduate student cum lecturer in 1995.
As
a trainee lecturer in the Department of Physiology of medical college
Trivandrum for doing his MD, the petitioner had SOME REMARKABLE
SUCCESSES TO BEGIN WITH. In his confidential report for the year 1995
the head of the department of physiology commended the petitioner for
his exemplary conduct and punctuality in all matters, praised his
extraordinary proficiency in understanding new and difficult matters,
his resourcefulness and originality in giving suggestions and
pursuing them constructively and the petitioner's ability to get
systematically to the root of the problems and for his consistently
sound and well balanced judgment. Above all, the Head of the
Department specifically mentioned the petitioner's keen interest in
improving the standard of the practical classes. It was a flattering
report.
Thus
the petitioner was on course for obtaining his MD degree with the
Head of the Department of Physiology due to be his examiner in a
couple of years' time; an MD in physiology would have guaranteed him
immediate promotion as assistant professor and put him in line for
further promotions. However this was not to be.
In
the vicious atmosphere in medical college Trivandrum, within no time,
everything turned topsy-turvy; the petitioner could never appear for
the MD examination and he was still a lecturer when he retired from
Kerala Government service on superannuation as mandatory at the age
of 55 years on April 30, 2005.
Being
homeless, the petitioner, ever since his release from the army in
1992, has been living in rented houses. In 1995 he shifted to
Thiruvananthapuram and from then on has been living in and around
Trivandrum city, except for a one year stay in Ernakulam dt. during
2010 - 11 in a futile attempt to build a house of his own there.
THE PRESENT
AT
PRESENT the petitioner, out of extreme compulsions, is living in a
shack,v
building No. V/168 of Karakulam Panchayath, a 4 x 5 sq. meter single
storey structure with four inch thick brick walls and asbestos/GI
sheet roofing in Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala state.
This
shack stands on a 3.88 ares plot of land purchased by the petitioner
in 2011 out of his life time savings with the intention of
constructing a house of his own and making it his permanent abode.
The construction work started in right earnest in august 2011 for a
single storey 80 sq. meter house using the low cost building
techniques of the famous architect Dr. Lauri Baker at a total
estimated cost of 9 lakhs just adjacent to the shack. However, in
June 2012 things came to a grindingvi
halt, with the builders engaged by the petitioner refusing to proceed
further after finishing the first stage of the project, the basement
part. No reason whatsoever was given for this sudden change of mind;
they simply were “no more interested”.
The
petitioner who had moved into the shack in June 2011 in the hope
that it is going to be for a few months till the house proper is
constructed finds himself literallyvii
trapped.
The
petitioner's only source of income since retirement from government
service is his monthly pension and in order to maintain a minimum
standard of living the petitioner perforce has to supplement it by
taking up a job. Under normal circumstances this should not have been
a problem in his case with his educational qualifications and
experience, especially so with the mushrooming of private medical
colleges in Kerala in the recent past and the resulting huge demand
for teachers in medical physiology.
In
spite of the above, the petitioner is being forced to spend his life
after retirement in dire poverty, in the seclusion of his shack doing
the work usually allotted to a housemaid and has to eke out a
miserable existence on his meager monthly pension. It is all due to
the petitioner's
PECULIAR
CIRCUMSTANCES
to be continued
