PREETINDER SINGH THAPAR Vs. UNION OF INDIA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) FIGHT is between the petitioners acting as a group and respondent No. 7, S. Onkar Singh Thapar. Respondents 8 to 10 have supported the claim of the petitioners. Other respondents have not joined the battle.

(2.) PETITIONERS and respondents 9 to 18 are siblings. Respondent No. 8 is the wife of late Captain K.S. Thapar. Late Captain K.S. Thapar was married twice. Petitioners were born to him through his second wife Smt. Basant Kaur. Respondent No. 7 Onkar Singh Thapar was born from the first wife. Dispute is in respect of perpetual leasehold rights in respect of property No. A -78, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi and the building constructed thereon.

(3.) THE plot of land bearing No. A -78, Malviya Nagar, New Delhi which was allotted to late Kirpal Singh Thakar and the structure standing thereon had to be inherited by somebody. Succession was as per Hindu Law. In the absence of the will, the widow, 9 sons and 6 daughters had to inherit the estate. Since the property was allotted by the Rehabilitation Department of the Government of India under the Displaced Persons (Compensation & Rehabilitation) Act 1954, mutation had to be effected in the records of the Ministry of Rehabilitation before a perpetual lease deed could be executed. S. Onkar Singh Thapar filed an application seeking mutation in his name. Exact date of application is not known, but it was somewhere in the year 1963. Along with the application, the sons, the daughters and widow of late Kirpal Singh Thapar filed affidavits that they had to objection if the property was transferred in the name of S. Onkar Singh Thapar. Affidavits to this effect were filed by all legal heirs on 25.5.1963.