Legal Question in Real Estate Law in India
Registration of inherited benami property
I am a resident of Kerala. We are two brothers. My father died recently without giving a will. At the time of his death he was holding 2 acres of agricultural land purchased during 1971. The land was purchased under a fictitious name. The land was in his custody all these years and paid tax and still paying tax. Now, we want the land partitioned and registered in our name. There is no dispute between us and nobody objects to our sharing the property. The question is how to get the property registered in our name and is there any legal hurdles involved? Is this property coming under the benami property?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Registration of inherited benami property
For inheritence or sucession to an immovable property, no registration is required. You have to apply to the concerned Revenue Authorities to have names of Legal Heirs of your father mutated as owners of the said property. If the local laws there require obtaining a Sucession Certificate or Heirship Certificate, you have to obtain the same from the concerned Court or Authority.
The legal heirs of your father would include his sons, daughters, widow, sons/daughters of predeceased sons/daughter etc.
Re: Registration of inherited benami property
The land was held benami by your father. This might not have mattered when he purchased it in 1971, but since then the Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988, has been passed by Parliament. The Act prohibits the holding of property benami and makes property held benami liable to confiscation and criminal prosecution. See Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Act.
If you can convince the revenue authorities that the person in whose name the property and your father are one and the same person and also that there was no intention to violate the provisions of law by holding the land in a different name, then you might be able to persuade the authorities to transfer the land to the names of your brother and yourself.
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