1. My deceased father was a member-purchaser of a plot in a Co-operative House Construction Society, registered in the erstwhile State of Bihar now Jharkhand State, and the sale deed to that effect was registered in the office of District Registrar back in 1990;
2. My father constructed a house on the said plot of land in the year 1990 as per the plan approved by the concerned district authority;
3. My father died intestate in December 2010 leaving behind two sons and four daughters (Class I legal heirs of my deceased father under the Schedule of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 in connection with Section 8 of this Act);
4. The Hon. Secretary of the said Co-operative Society verbally informed me that there is a nomination filed by my father in the co-operative’s office wherein I was the nominee originally and which was subsequently changed by my father in the name of my younger brother under the circumstances known neither to me nor to my four sisters, and even on our repeated requests the concerned nomination paper was not shown to us;
5. On the basis of the said nomination, the office of the Co-operative Society issued a declaration/ certificate of transfer of my father’s membership along with the said plot and house property built over it by him in the name of my younger brother without informing the other five Class I heirs (myself and my four sisters) of my deceased father and, thus, without obtaining their consent;
6. On having the said declaration/ certificate of transfer by the Co-operative Society, my younger brother now denies to share the property among all legal Class I heirs (even after a formal family arrangement, which could not be given a legal form later on due to his refusal to sign the same) and he has been making additional constructions willfully on the said plot without our consent making the situation worse;
7. Incidentally, the original sale deed of the concerned plot and other documents pertaining to the house have also been kept confiscated by my younger brother and he denies to provide even the photo-copy of the concerned documents to me and my sisters. Also the copy of the same is not available at the office of Co-operative Society;
8. The aforesaid act of the Co-operative Society under para 5, after it came to my knowledge, was immediately protested by me through a letter addressed to the President and the Hon. Secretary of the concerned Co-operative Society six month back and requested to withdraw such transfer and maintain the erstwhile status-quo till we all Class I heirs apply jointly for it, but my request has been unheard of till date;
9. Due to the aforesaid act of the Co-operative Society, we (the remaining five Class I legal heirs i.e., myself and my four sisters) are deprived of the rights conferred on us under sections 8, 9 and 10 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 which raises suspicion of malafide intentions of the office bearers of the concerned Co-operative Society and my younger brother.
10. Further, on the basis of this transfer certificate from the concerned society, he had applied for the holding transfer in the Municipal Corporation and I think that he has even got the holding transferred in his name. He might even get the modifications being made presently approved after having the holding in his name. Even the Holding No. of the house is not with me.
11. I intend to file a partition suit to have my share in the property.
Now, the questions are:
• Can the Co-operative society transfer the rights of property to my younger brother in this manner?
• Can the prevailing byelaws of the Co-operative society override the rights conferred on me by HSA, 1956?
• Can I file a partition suit even though I don’t have any copy or pertinent details of the above-mentioned sale deed?
• Is there any way he can be compelled to submit the documents related to the property?
• What can I do to stop him making further construction on the plot, and disposing part of the property through sale/ transfer/ gift in connivance with the office bearers of the society?
• What are the possible ways out for this complex situation?
