Ancestral property cannot be claimed unless mutated in parent's name: Gauhati High Court

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Gauhati High Court recently ruled that descendants of any particular person cannot claim a share of ancestral landed property on the grounds of occupancy alone, unless the landed property in question was mutated in the name of their parent during the latter's lifetime.

The judgment came with regard to a Writ Petition filed by three daughters of a Mizoram-based man, Late K Vanlalmalsawma, challenging a property settlement arrived at a Lok Adalat in Lunglei district on September 26, 2015. The Lok Adalat settlement had been earlier accepted by the petitioners.

The settlement awarded the non-mutated land and house in the Electric Veng area of Mizoram, which belonged to the petitioners' grandfather, to their uncle and elder brother of Late K Vanlalmalsawma. The settlement further awarded a separate property acquired by Late K Vanlalmalsawma in the Lunglawn area to his minor younger son. Finally, Rs 1,91,366 which was deposited in K Vanlalmalsawma's bank account was distributed equally among his five children (including the petitioners) and his second wife.

In its judgment, the High Court stated that living in a house or a plot of land by itself cannot imply that the property stood transferred in the occupant's name. Therefore, since no mutation of the ancestral property at Electric Veng had taken place, the court upheld the Lok Adalat settlement and dismissed the Writ Petition.

However, the court provided that the petitioners should be allowed to reside in their grandfather's house as long as they wished, because they have been living there from the time when their father Vanlalmalsawma was alive.

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