Who is the owner of a Benami Property(sic)?
K.K.Ganguly
(Querist) 19 July 2011
This query is : Open
Would the Ld. Experts opine on the following matter?
1) In the year 1950 3 persons namely X,Y & Z coming from erstwhile East Pakistan forcibly occupied the land of one Mr. Siraj situated at the out skirt of Kolkata.
2) The said land was sold to one Mr.A by Mr.Siraj in 1951 by a Sale Deed in his name,
3) One Mr.B filed a partition suit in 1955 making Mr.Siraj, his nephews & also Mr.A as opposite party who never appeared in any hearing. The Judgement was given in 1975 stating that the land is of Mr.B though it is in the name of Mr.A. (I.E. it was a Benami Property). The order was given for partition. A did not understand all hese things and kept quite.
4) X,Y & Z went up to High Court who affirmed the above decision of the lower court.(Barasat District Court),
5) Now A died after which his wife willed it to her nephew P who also died after taking Probate & his daughter Q claims to inherit the property.
6) Now the decedents of X filed title suit against B claiming adverse possession of which A was the power of attorney holder for B. The suit was rejected.
7) The decedents of B sold the property to R who has filed a title suit against X,Y & Z who are still the occupiers,
8) In that T.S filed by R against X,Y & Z, an appeal was made by A for being a party to that suit claiming for the first time that he is the owner of that land. This appeal to become a party was rejected by the magistrate stating that (a) he was the Power of Attorney holder for B in their T.S for the same land against X,Y, & Z (b) he was never present in any hearing of his application &(c) he has not attached copy of the probate. P was bed ridden at that time for which he could nott attend the Court & died after 6 months.
9) Q the daughter of P (who was the wife of A)now sold the property to one Builder innocently.
10) The builder later on came to know the defect in title in that property and has given 5 days time to return the money including the Registration cost (Rs.10 lakhs) or correct the defect in title otherwise he will file FIR and get her arrested.
The back ground that A is he was an innocent and uneducated priest totally under the clutches of B who was a cunning the then Jaminder of East Bengal. All the decedents of A are still very poor uneducated people. The present owner (claimant/seller) Q is a private Ayya who all along knew that the property is of her forefathers and also that once an unknown person was presented before the judge by decedents of B claiming to be P who stated that he is not he actual owner.
My question is
a)what should be done now to save Q, the poor lady?
b) What should be done to ensure that the property goes to her & prove that it was not a Benami Property in the name of her ancestor & that they cold not fight the cases because of their lack of education & money and also that they were in the hand of the then Jaminder B. She has one affidavit given by the decedents of B (out of 4) which states that the property belonged to A.
It is a life and death question for her now since she has already spent the money to repay loans.
Would any Advocate practicing at Kolkata like to take up the case aggressively?
Thanks in advance.
