Access Denied to Legitimate Piece of Ancestral Land
5 years ago
There is a piece of Agricultural Land (about half a Hectre) at my native place. This land is an ancestral property and it was firstly in the name of my grandfather who died 20 years back. After his death, this land got transferred in the name of his legal heirs – his wife (my grandmother) and his two sons – i.e. my father and my uncle. (They also three daughters – but all of them had given away their rights (revocation deed) several years back). So, my grandmother, my father and my uncle – each owned 33% of the land.
My father passed away 12 years back – however his name continued to be there on the 7-12. My grandmother passed away 4 years back. After my grandmother’s death, myself approached the Local Talathee office, provided them with the death certificates of my father and grandmother and requested them,
1. That my father’s ownership (i.e. 33% of the land) transferred in the name of myself and my mother, since we are his only legal heirs.
2. That my grandmother’s ownership (i.e. 33% of the land) transferred to her legal heirs – i.e. to my uncle, and my father – since my father is no more - to myself and my mother, since we are his only legal heirs.
According to this the Talathee office issued a ‘Ferfaar’ and got the names my father and my grand-mother removed and names of myself and my mother added on the 7-12 of the land. Thus myself and my mother together are not the owners of the 50% of the land and my uncle remains the owner of other 50%. This happened immediately after my grandmother’s death, i.e. 4 years ago. However, all these years it was only my uncle who used to cultivate the entire half hectre land and alone used to take 100% of the earnings from it without giving us anything. After our names came on the 7-12, we approached our uncle to give us our share of 50% of the land, but he refused to give us anything. We also approached the village panchayat (‘Tantaa-Muktee Samitee’ in Maharashtra, i.e. a voluntaree body that tries to resolve the disputes within the village amicably). However, he didn’t attend the meeting they had invited. He still continues to hold and cultivate the entire land denying us access to it, although the 7-12 is also in our name. Since we are two helpless women he literally is bullying us. Please advise how should we get our piece of land?
Ambrose Leo
Responded 5 years ago
Namitabh Kothari
Responded 5 years ago