The Karnataka High Court has set aside a decision by an apartment owners’ association that prohibited children from playing in the apartment’s designated play area, highlighting the importance of playing games in a child’s physical and mental development.
The single-judge Bench of Justice Hanchate Sanjeevkumar held that children have a fundamental right to play and that apartment owners’ associations cannot impose arbitrary restrictions on their use of common playgrounds. Terming playing games as a fundamental right for children, the Court held that restricting the same stripped children of their overall well-being.
The Court rejected the justification given by the Esteem Gardenia Apartment Owners Association that the playground was intended only for certain unspecified games, describing the stand as vague and unsupported. It held that the association could not deny children access to the play area on such an ambiguous basis.
The Court further directed the association to convene a general body meeting within three months to identify and notify the games that may be played in the apartment playground.
The dispute arose from a suit filed by two residents of the Esteem Gardenia Apartments in Bengaluru’s Sahakara Nagar. Apart from challenging the restriction on children playing football, the residents also complained about flower pots placed on common stairways.
According to the petitioners, one of them sustained serious injuries after slipping on a staircase made wet by water overflowing from the flower pots. Although the association initially removed the pots following complaints, they were later placed back in the same location.
The trial court had dismissed the suit despite acknowledging that the flower pots were kept in common areas, holding that the petitioners had failed to establish any illegality in their placement.
Allowing the appeal, the High Court held that stairways and corridors are common areas meant for the unrestricted use of all residents, and any obstruction affecting free movement cannot be justified. The Court faulted the trial court for failing to adopt a practical approach and for overlooking the safety risks created by wet and slippery stairways.
Finding that the petitioners had established that watering the plants caused the floor to become slippery and hazardous, the High Court directed the association to remove all flower pots from stairways and corridors. It further ordered that no materials or objects should be kept in common areas in a manner that obstructs the movement or safety of residents.
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