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Mo__Khalid (N/a)     28 May 2012

Nri land dispute

My enquiry relates to the old law passed by Mrs Gandhi, which to date has not been changed in regards to land and property. Why is it that resident of India, family member or non family members are still allowed to take over ones land.

I am an NRI with land and shopping centre based in Gujrat, my father passed away in 1993 and till now I had no idea how or what the state of our land was, as I trusted my dads younger brother, who now refuses to give us which is rightly ours, his threatened my siblings and widowed mother, he wants us to remove our names from the lands, stating it is not ours it is all his.
I am not the only NRI facing such issues, this is happening all over India, why is it as yet, people like myself are having to suffer, due to lack of change or interest by Government in changing legislation which would favour NRI's.

Why am I being told this is a Civil matter and that I need to consult a solicitor, which is costly and the case can take many years to go through the courts and still hear no end to the matter?
My frustration to all this is one of if one does not have the necessary funds and does not trust the judiciary system of India to act in a manner of professionalism what can one do. I have recently returned from India after a stay of almost 3 months and without bribery you get no help. Solicitors demand thousands of lakhs rupees to work on your case but they also state this can take up to 10/15 years to get to court.

Is this what being an NRI is about, is this how we are to suffer for many years to come. I know the answer I will get from your embassy and that is one of sympathy, and that this is a civil matter, seeing that our names have not been removed from the land, and that we should take the family member involved through civil court.
Being a civil servant in the UK I expected better treatment when I visited India to find what and how to go about getting what is rightfully mine. But I am not surprised as I cannot and should not compare how UK treats and helps its citizens and others in all aspects of their concerns.

I am again planning to travel to India at the end of the year to try and find out further as to what else I can do to get my uncle to give us the land which has our names on and what quick process there is, I would appreciate a response from yourselves with useful information rather than the typical answer "we are unable to help, in this matter"

many thanks
 



Learning

 4 Replies

andz (clerk)     29 May 2012

first of all sorry for the anguish and the trouble you have gone through Mr Mo_Khalid (if that's to be believed true).
i dont know what law you were referring to that has been passed out by Mrs.Gandhi.
i dont know what made you think of or conclude that resident of India/family members or no family members are still allowed to take over ones land ---- if that was the question then why your names are still on the records (hhhmm i wonder) . . .
and it is good to know that you are an NRI with land and shopping center based in india(gujrat) and how you acquired them yo have not disclosed.
and if somebody's threatening you or your family member's with dire consequences irrespective of the relation they can allway's lodge a complaint with the local p.s and if not the matter can be taken to the local or state H.R.C. ----have you taken any of these steps . . . . ???(let me bring to your kind notice that you do not need any advocate/solicitor for this).
and plz do not compare or include other's with your issue's as you got a wrong notion/perception about Only Indian judicial system so this part need not be addressed that how many other NRI's are suffered/suffering(as only you are aware of these).
you should be aware of the legislation's and the amendments/tax benefits that have been made especially for the NRI's like you.
I dont understand what is wrong to convey to you that it is a civil matter?? as it is and you being an NRI owning lands/shopping center's can't you afford a solicitor who can take care of your properties and advice you correctly and represent you . ( i think it is free or very cheap in UK or whatever place you belong to .)
It is true that you are in frustration(thanks for acknowledging and admitting the fact) but that does not solve your problem and i really feel bad for the kind of experience you must've gone through, but no body can help you if you, yourself do not trust/have faith in the judiciary system of India and well it's your opinion that there's no professionalism and time is only consumed depending upon the case and the documentation and the credibility.
I feel very bad the way you address "YOUR EMBASSY/THIS IS HOW WE ARE TO SUFFER",if you wish to alienate your self from your country then may be you can seek the judicial intervention of YOUR Country of residence or perhaps you can seek the intervention of the international Court, may be the solicitor's are free and you can get justice done in only matter of hours.

my sugestion :
before you plan a trip to india again-
1-write a letter to the conserned departements explaining the details and the kind of relief you seek with copies of(xerox) proof of your ownership and do keep a copy and the postal ack's saved for your future reference.
2-as above mentioned you can lodge a police complaint in the local p.s. if any criminal threats are involved.
3-for your civil matter(whatever it is) you can get issued legal notice's to the concerned parties and subsequently pursue the matter but you should have an idea what the current state is and what is the kind of relief you seek(you said you do not what is the state of property after demise of your father) so better take photographs and keep records of everything and do apply for E.C's and the land/revenue records to see whether your names are still there.
bottomline without much of useful information from yourself other than the grudge for the country and the judicial system you better come forward with the kind of information you are holding and then seek out for the remedies.
all the best.
anand.

Mo__Khalid (N/a)     29 May 2012

Thanking you for your reply. My apologies if you feel my first message was wrong, this is how I feel from what I have encountered.

The land that we have was my father and his brothers, when my father passed away in 1993 we removed his name and added family members names. To date our names are joint with my uncles as nothing was divided, and we both are 50/50 partners. My uncle claims even though our names are on the land we are not entitled to anything, he refuses to give divide the land nor allow us to sell. He says this s all his land and we should remove our names. If we try to sell, we need his signature and he wont sign any thing.

Our shopping centre land name is in his name, shopping centre is registered in ours, this is the same on his shopping centre, land name my fathers, reason for this is, he resides in India and he built his shopping centre first and built on the part which was my fathers, so my father built his on the remainder land. My uncle now says this is not ours either.

I have checked all our land papers and he has not removed our names.

You also say having a shopping centre and why i say we cant afford legal fees, my friend our shopping centre was rented out in the 80's with no paper work and the rental we get barely covers my travel costs when i go to India. As we have no rental agreement with the renter, they refuse to increase their rent and will not empty the sihops.

The Mrs Gandhi quote i made was in regards to her saying, "the person that ploughs the land, the person that lives in the property is the owner".

This is why when i spoke to my cousin and my uncle about giving us our share due to it not been divided, their answer was this is ours we have had it in our hands for 45 years and it is all mine, you wont get anything.

I spoke to a solicitor on my last visit and he said that the cost can be anything up to 15lakhs or more and the case to get a hearing could take about 10years. He stated that since the land was occupied by my uncle as the farmer, it would make it harder for us to get him to divide our share and that he can refuse to let us sell as we need his signature to even sell half of what is ours.

andz (clerk)     30 May 2012

Hi,
sorry if my reply affended but i need a clarificatin
A-you had a agricultural land ?
B-you had a commercial land on which your uncles has constructed a complex.
and next as you said it is your ancestral property(your father's and his brother's ) then you can allway's (better write a letter to the brother's of your dad requsting for partition and post a RPAD keeping a copy with you) and then later on you can file suit for partition.
you can allway's ask the tenants to hike the rents or give it for development where in it will be a fresh development agreement betweeen you and the developer where in it will be mentioned that all the legalities formalities will be taken care by the builder/developer(which is common).
indiragandhi must've said that when there's excess lands with the land lords and poor/villagers were working in the fields where in after years of reaping the benefit the land's were retained by the landlords. . . . in the same india latest supreme court judgements clarify that even after year's the brother's or relatives will only be guardians for the land/property but can never be actual/real owners . . . .and hope that clarifies your doubt that even now you can claim what is your rite.
well the i understand the kind of experience you had with that particular solicitor but all may not be alike and basically you need to know what suite you are filing and what is the market value.
i wish you all the best and hope you'll be able to clear all your worries the next trip.
regards
anand.

Mo__Khalid (N/a)     30 May 2012

Yes we have almost 90 acres of agricultural land and my uncles son has built a farm house on the land and says he will never give it up as his father has given it all to him.

The original owner of the land was my fathers grand mother and the 2 grand children inherited this, one is my father second his brother.

Writing to him to ask for partition will make no difference as I have recently returned back from India and he refuses to give anything as he claims its all his, and that we should remove our names.

You state that we can file suit for partition, how long does this procedure take, seeing my uncle doesnt comply with any request from us?

As for the shopping centre this was built many years ago and we have our apartment built above it, so cannot rebuild it.

Thanks for clarifying the fact that family cannot occupy land, why is it that I am unable to sell my 50% of the land without my uncles signature?

I cannot see this being cleared for many years, and seeing my uncle is ageing and his health isnt good, I can see things getting worse if he was to pass away, as then we will have more of a problem with his children, as they also refuse to give us our share.


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