I bought a residential land and registered it in 2005. I have almost completed building my house on it. It is one land out of many which was owned by a HUF. In a partition suit decree in 1996, the Civil Court awarded this land to the HUF member (vendor) who sold it to me. Recently I came to know that an appeal had been filed against the 1996 Partition Award in 1998. It has been admitted by the Court too. Details of the appeal are:
1. The existence of this appeal was not found out during legal verification before my purchase.
2. The Appellant is an outside party (not a member of the HUF, and not related to them).
3. The Appellant claims he entered into a sale agreement and advanced monies to the Vendor for one of the HUF lands during the pendency of the partition suit. But this land was not awarded to the vendor in the suit decree, and the vendor is not returning the appellant’s advances.
4. The survey number of the land for which the Appellant claims to have entered into sale agreement with my vendor, is not the land which I purchased in 2005.
(The survey no of the land I bought is nowhere mentioned in this appeal.)
But the Appellant has appealed for setting aside the 1996 Partition award and for a fresh partition to protect his interests. This appeal is still under hearing and dragging on. No member of the HUF has filed an appeal against the 1996 Partition Decree. Nor has any of them asked for being impleaded in the pending appeal.
I made enquiries and found that most of the lands awarded by the Court in 1996 have since, been sold off by the respective HUF members, including the land for which the appellant claims to have paid advances.
1. In case the appeal is allowed and the Court sets aside the 1996 Partition, will my title to the land I purchased, be compromised in any way?
2. Will ‘lis pendens’ apply to my land purchase?
N Ravindran
Dear N Ravindran,
Your title to the property is subjected to the result of the suit. The fact that you did not know the filing of the appeal is of no consequence. You have purchased the property, pending litigation and therefore, it is affected by the doctrine of lis pendens. Therefore, you cannot be sure of your title till this appeal is finally disposed off. In case you lose this, the only remedy is to get back the purchase money.
Dear Madam,
I was a tenant of a shop premises in Pune. My landlord decided to develop old property and appointed a developer as his power of attorney. I entered into a registered agreement and agreed to surrender my tenancy in old premises in favour of the promoter/owner on condition that the said developer shall give me a flat and a shop at concessional rate in new building to be constructed and till receipt of possession of the new flat, I shall remain tenant of the said promoter.
After paying 90% of agreed money, I did not receive possession of the new flat and shop. So I sent a legal notice to the said developer. In reply, the party terminated my tenancy as I failed to pay rent of my old premises as per the agreement and has asked me to collect refund of the entire amount paid by me.
I am confused now as my lawyer says we cannot approach Consumer Court for receiving possession of the new flat and shop as I was a tenant and my tenancy has been terminated. According to my advocate I have to approach Small Causes Courts at Pune. Kindly guide me.
Priyanka Gupta
Dear Priyanka Gupta,
Your matter is governed by the Bombay Houses and Rent Control Act. At the moment I do not have the copy of that Act. Unless this Act is looked into, your rights cannot be definitely stated. In any view you cannot go to any consumer forum seeking relief.
Dear Madam,
I have purchased and duly registered a plot of land with a building in the KMDA area in the outskirts of Kolkata. I have also paid the tax at the Block Land Revenue Office. I have now submitted my papers at the BLRO Office for mutation of the property in my name.
Letters were sent by the BLRO Office to all the people named in the Deed who had, at one time or other, owned the property, to come to a hearing if they have any objection to the intended mutation.The person from whom I have purchased the property, also got the letter and is now demanding some more money and threatening to raise objections to the mutation otherwise.
My question is, since there is proof that the person has received the full consideration money at the time of registration of the property in my name, can he really raise any objection which may hinder the process of mutation? Please help.
Bhaskar Bhadra
Dear Bhaskar Bhadra,
Your matter appears to be simple. If the opposite party refuses to give consent he can be compelled by a civil suit to discharge his obligations. You are advised to contact a competent advocate in Kolkata to initiate further proceedings to secure your rights.
