Shiva (Student) 01 March 2014

Ancestral property sale fraud

My father had allegedly signed a sale agreement of two of the property - one is 4.20 acres (88 plots) and another 2.20 acres of farm land to a fraud marwadi in our town. The 4.20 acres which is turned to 88 residential plots is in my name since the year 2000 and the other land 2.20 acres is in my fathers name. The mentioned properties are our ancestral properties.

The said agreement of sale says Rs. 10,000 has been paid towards the purchase and the total sum of the sale is 45 lakhs. This is insane, because just to convert that 4.20 acres farm land alone to residential plots easily cost us more than 30 lakhs rupees. Also the content of the agreement states that my father has got my power of attorney to sell the property in my name which I have never given. The signature on the agreement almost matches that of my father although the rest of my family members disputed that he ever signed such a thing. My father was suffering from stroke and passed away 2 years ago.

The marwadi had moved to court about 7 years ago and surprisingly the court ruled in his favour! in absence of my father and myself!!! I didn't even knew there was a case going on regarding our property! My father was suffering from stroke and couldn't attend to any matters and I was residing out of country. My Mom was helpless and is a traditional home maker who isn't skilled to handle outside matters. The mentioned marwadi has a notorious reputation of being a fraud and a crook in our town. The people in our town says he is trying to steal our property and he has done this before to other helpless family mostly to older folks without heir to properties. He also allegedly paid the lawyer representing us in the court. When I questioned our lawyer (after I tracked him down by looking up his name on our case documents) about his failure to do his job properly his response was that since I was out of country and my father is disabled from stroke and so he could not do much under such circumstances and therefore lost the case.

I have hired another lawyer who seems inept, incompetent and quite frankly hopeless. His work ethic is horrible. But I didn't have a choice since he is one of the very few senior lawyers left practicing in our town. I am also helping him out. I have him file civil miscellaneousness to reverse the previous judgement. Meanwhile Marwadi has hired a top notch lawyer from Mumbai! I am quite impressed by this guy because for this case alone he travels from Mumbai to my home town in North Karnataka for every hearing!!!!

My situation sucks. It's quite pathetic. I know!

But please in spirit of justice any valuable legal advice and suggestions will be much appreciated. Many thanks!

I hope justice prevails.

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8 Replies

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate) 02 March 2014

Change the lawyer and engage a prudent lawyer, be it from some other place also, it will worth while.

Shiva (Student) 08 March 2014

Thanks. But how can this Marwadi prove that the signature is indeed my fathers? Will the court force us to sell our property to him by agreeing in his favour?

adv.raghavan (Advocate,9444674980) 08 March 2014

It is up to you to prove he has forged the signature, u have alleged he has forged the signature of your fathers. U have not stated what type of suit he had filed and got expartie order and when the agreement was entered. The queries u have posted is all of trial stage, without seeing the documents it wont be appropriate to advice you.

cyberlawyer (barrister) 09 March 2014

Your case was represented in the court through a lawyer ?. Since you say that the matter was decreed in your absence, it must be an exparte decree. Your lawyer must have asked your family members to come to court atleast for trial. If there is no one on your side, atleast your relatives could have gone by getting a power of attorney or a authorization letter. If all this was not possible, did he atleast inform you during trial stage ?.

Ok. past is past. See that, if the decree is an exparte one, you can set it aside in the same court. Engage a competent lawyer and fight. Truth alone triumphs.

Good luck..

suresh (student) 11 March 2014

Shiva (Student) 11 March 2014

Thanks. Can my father agree to sell our ancestral property which is in my name? It is written in the agreement of sale that my father has obtained the power of attorney from me to sell it. But even without this is he allowed to sell it? What about the other 2.20 acres land which was in my fathers name? We four children and our mother refuse to sell this property too, will the court agree in our favour? Mind you the Marwari claims he paid only Rs. 10,000 /- and the total agreed sum is 45 Lakhs.

Shiva (Student) 16 March 2014

Just bumping this post back to top. I am still waiting for reply to my above post.

Shiva (Student) 21 March 2014

Can my father agree to sell our ancestral property which is in my name? What about the other 2.20 acres land which was in my fathers name? We four children and our mother refuse to sell this property too, will the court agree in our favour? Mind you the Marwari claims he paid only Rs. 10,000 /- and the total agreed sum is 45 Lakhs.

Also, what about the agreement of sale in specific that we refuse to honor the agreement? What would this lead to?