Karnataka HC says children have right to play, tells apartment to rethink football ban

Observing that “playing games by children is a fundamental right,” the Karnataka High Court has directed a Bengaluru apartment owners’ association to reconsider its ban on children playing football in the complex’s playground through a democratic process. The court also ordered the association to permanently remove flower pots from common stairways after finding they obstructed residents’ movement and contributed to a woman suffering a serious fall.The June 16 judgment came in an appeal filed by Sangeetha Agarwal and her husband, Hemant Agarwal, residents of Esteem Gardenia Apartment Owners Association in Bengaluru. The couple had challenged both the association’s decision to prohibit children from playing football in the common playground and its placement of flower pots on stairways, alleging that the latter had caused Sangeetha to suffer a fractured leg.According to the couple, the association's own bylaws prohibited residents from placing flower pots or other objects in common stairways and corridors. However, the association itself had placed potted plants along the staircases. In August 2012, Sangeetha Agarwal reportedly slipped on the wet patch on a staircase between the terrace and the third floor, allegedly caused by water from the flower pots. She suffered a leg fracture and underwent surgery twice. The couple alleged they repeatedly raised the issue before the association, including at a general body meeting, but no action was taken.They subsequently filed a civil lawsuit seeking the removal of the flower pots, a declaration that the football ban was invalid, and Rs 1 lakh in damages. In 2021, the trial court dismissed the suit, holding that it had not been proved that the flower pots were placed illegally and upholding the football restriction. However, the Karnataka High Court allowed an appeal, with Justice Hanchate Sanjeevkumar disagreeing with the trial court’s reading of the evidence. The association had argued that the flower pots were placed pursuant to a “majority decision” of its members rather than by individual residents. Rejecting the contention, the High Court observed that “keeping the pots causes obstruction to free movement of any of the owners of the flats, which infringes the civil rights of the plaintiffs.”The court further held that the evidence established that Sangeetha Agarwal’s fall was caused by the slippery floor created by watering the plants. “The plaintiffs have proved the fact that due to such slipperiness on the floor caused by watering the pots, she fell and suffered injuries,” it observed.On the football ban, the court found the association’s restriction to be vague. “Playing games by children is a fundamental right of children, and prohibiting the children from playing takes away their overall health (sic),” the court said.However, instead of striking down the restriction altogether, the court directed the association to convene a general body meeting within three months and decide by majority vote which games children should be permitted to play in the common playground. It clarified that while specific games could be regulated, children could not be denied the right to play altogether.The High Court also directed the association to permanently remove the flower pots from stairways and other common areas and restrained it from placing such obstructions there in the future. This story was written by a student interning with TNM.