Property Dispute between brothers

4 years ago

My father in law who lives in Tiruppur district had bought agricultural lands during 1968, 1969 and 1970.
He purchased 4 properties in his name and one Property in joint name with his younger brother. His brother had purchased one Property in his name. All these properties are adjoining each other and the amalgamated property has Patta in the name of my father in law. He had been paying Property Tax for these Patta lands in his name for the past 40 years. In the last few years, he had not paid the property taxes and he intends to pay up in next few days.
While the relationship between brothers had been cordial, it has become worse after demise of his brother a few months back.
The issues are as follows :
1. His brother's family is demanding more than their share of labd which had been registered in his brother's name because of the appreciation in land value

2. My father in law is far poorer compared to his brother and this is the only valuable land he owns. Accordingly, he does not want to part with extra land out his share

3. My father in law has 3 daughters and his brother has 2 daughters.

4. Since my father in law is 85 years old and his spouse is 82 years, he wants to give away this property to his daughters through settlement deed

5. His brother's family have taken possession of the purchase deeds of both the brothers and holding these as ransom to demand extra land. My father in law is not ready to agree to their demands

6. For the six properties, Patta is in the name of my father in law and the taxes ( Kandayam ) had been paid in the name of my father in law

7. His brother's family is also threatening that they will sell their parcel of land (one independent and another joint with my in law) to politically connected buyers to create problems for my in law. Since their family is very rich, they may even sell it at lower than market rate if my in law continues not to part with extra land. If this happens, my aged father in law would be put under stress which he can not withstand

8. We have come across the following news item elsewhere :
If the Patta is in the name of a person and he had been paying taxes for more than 12 years, the Patta holder gets the right of ownership irrespective of who holds the title deed (purchase document).
If this is correct, then my father in law can safeguard his interests by opposing his brother's family selling their share to unwanted elements.

Can my father in law send a lawyer notice to Subregistrar with copy to his brother's family claiming ownership of the whole set of properties for which both brothers hold title deed / purchase deed ?
With this action, the following things could be expected to happen
a) Return of title documents
b) dropping of demand for extra land
c) Agreeing for partition of one Property which is in joint name of both brothers. With this, my father in law can settle his Property to his three daughters peacefully at the same time NOT harming his brother's family who are greedy and showing arrogance.

Kindly advise
Regards
Venkatachalam