My father and his friend owned two plots alongside each other and in 2009 they decided to enter into an agreement with a developer to promote the entire property into an apartment complex. At first the developers executed a ‘Deed of Exchange’ in between them and then they jointly entered into an agreement with the developer in which my father would get Apartment 3A and shops 5 & 6 while his friend would get apartment 2A and shops 1 &2. The developers told them that the “Deed of exchange” was like amalgamation and necessary to combine the lands together. I still don’t understand how a “deed of exchange” equals amalgamation. Does it?
At any rate, they constructed the building, handed over possession and through power of attorney sold the remaining flats and shops. All the new owners got their respective shops and flats mutated in their name in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation but the corporation treated my father and his friend as joint owners and sends them property taxes under a single assessee number. When they approached the Corporation to apply for mutation of their said properties in their respective names the corporation did not accept their application and told them verbally that first they need to make a ‘partition deed’ between them and only after will the corporation mutate their names for their respective share of property.
After they approached a few property lawyers who told them that since they are the land owners and also since they have an agreement with the developers alongside ‘owner’s allocation’ and separate "letters of possession,' no partition among them is necessary. Besides partition is a costly process. Now I am really confused as to the legality of the entire matter. Is a partition really necessary? Why will the corporation refuse mutation when everything is so crystal clear? Please advice if a partition is really necessary or the corporation just trying to pull a fast one on them and/or how to go about the mutation process.
