adv nishant (Advocate) 01 March 2009

Property dispute..legal eagle's please advise...

Dear every1..

I am writting with a lot of hope..i hope some bright minds from the legal faternity would surely reply back and give some suggestions...

My father died in the year 1991 leaving behind me(a 5 yr old son),my mother and my elder sister(who was 10yrs old back then)...my father had a house in a co-operative hsg society in mumbai in his name..as there was no nominee..so after my fathers death in the year 1991 a appendix 3c was submitted by my mother to the society requesting them to transfer the property in her name..

and for the past 17 years the house has been kept locked as we all live in New Delhi and my grandfather does not let anyone of us go and as he has the keys and all the orignal papers of the house..and as indian joint families are we did not have the courage to disobey him..but in the year 2007 we were informed by the society that the said property is jointly held by my mother and my grandfather..and when the appendix 3c was submitted to the society there was a clause in it which said "as there is no (the NO is then crossed with pen) one more heir Mr (my grandfathers name) who is related as father of the deceased to Mr (my father),his name may also be enroled as Joint name to the membership."

it is this clause made my grandfather the joint member..and we were really shocked when we were told about this in the year 2007 by the society as for the past 17 years it my mother who has been sending all the maintaince charges and all other expenses for the flat..and my granddfather has never spent a single rupee on it..and now when i confronted him 1st he said that as the furniture was mine that is why my name was added as a joint owner,then he changed his statement and said that as he had paid the black money (cash money) for buying the flat that is why he is a joint owner and now he claims that as the owner was his son (my father) hence that is why he is a joint owner..

presently my mother is suffering from a terminal illness and has not much time to live in this beautifull and not so beautifull world..the last and only wish that she has is to have her property back to her name.. i therefore request each knowledgeable member of this forum to reply back to my query as soon as possible before its too late..thanking you..

the property was bought by my father from his own money and we are hindu's as i belive religion is required for such cases..

i hope some one would reply soon..thanks..

lastly i would like to mention that i had some time back put the same query on this website and i got various replies...but what i want to mainly know is that

should i file a civil suit for declaration or should i apply for a sucession certificate from the court?? which one would be a bettter option and less money and time consuming...please if possible then let me know a rough estimate of the expenses...thanking you..nishant bahal..

Reply Follow

3 Replies

Manish Singh (Advocate) 03 March 2009

Dear Nishant,

firstly, your grndfather only has the right of maintenance over the said property if he has been residing in the said property otherwise no right arises since the property was acquired by your father.

secondly your mother was not the owner of the said property so she ha no authority to include any other name as a co owner. your mother and your siblings have equal right over the proprty and even if your was willing to give the property to your grndpa, she could have given only her share and not the whole of it.

thirdly as you said the name of your grndpa has been deliberately inserted you can produce this document as an evidence. you can charge your grandpa for cheating.

adv nishant (Advocate) 04 March 2009

Respected sir thank you for replying back..firstly let me clearify that no my grand father does not live in the said house..the possesion of the same is with my mother...secondly sir i dont want to un necessarily harass my grand father by filing cheating case and all against him.. what i want is to get back what is mine with minimum difficulty to him..

i therefore request every member of this forum to please sugesst that how should i proceed would getting a sucession certificate from the court help?? after giving the copy of the sucession certificate to the society would the society correct its mistake and delete my grand fatehrs name??

please reply back with sugesstions that would sucession certificate be enough or is there a need to file a suit aswell??hope to hear from you soon..thanking you..