MADRAS HIGH COURT
K.SELVARAJ VS THE
DISTRICT COLLECTOR ON 3 FEBRUARY, 2015
Summarised Judgement
(Scroll for Complete Judgement)
Introduction:
Writ petition filed
under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for a writ of certiorarified mandamus calling for the
records in pursuant of the impugned order passed by the 2nd respondent in his
proceedings Mo.Mu.No.2890/2014/A7 dated 25.08.2014 and quash the same and
consequently direct the 2nd respondent to issue legal heirs certificate of the
petitioner's father Late G.Elumalai, who died on 01.11.1998 after completing
all formalities.
Facts of the Case:
The case of the petitioner
is that his father, R. Raju Naidu died on 22.2.1971 and as on date, the
petitioner and his three sisters are the legal heirs of the deceased R. Raju
Naidu. According to the petitioner, he applied for legal heirship certificate
to the 2nd respondent by application dated 24.11.2008. But, no orders were
passed on the same.
According to the learned counsel for the petitioner, the
petitioner is in need of the legal heirship certificate in order to dispose of
a property to arrange the marriage of one of his sisters. Though the
application seeking legal heirship certificate submitted to the 2nd respondent
along with the relevant documents was forwarded to Revenue Inspector. I for
enquiry, the Revenue Inspector-I, without assigning any reasons, declined to
conduct an enquiry and consequently, no legal heirship certificate was issued.
Observation
& Judgement of Court:
Considering the above
submission made by the learned Additional Advocate General, the petitioner is
at liberty to make a request for issue of legal heirship certificate to
Tahsildar, Tambaram and on receipt of such application, the authority concerned
shall consider and pass T.S.SIVAGNANAM, J., AP orders in accordance with the
guidelines issued in the manual for Revenue Department.
The writ petition is
disposed of accordingly. No costs.
-----------------------------------------------
Complete
Judgement
MADRAS HIGH COURT
K.SELVARAJ VS THE
DISTRICT COLLECTOR ON 3 FEBRUARY, 2015
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUDICATURE AT MADRAS
DATED 03.02.2015
CORAM
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE T.S.SIVAGNANAM
WP.No.2526/2015
K.Selvaraj........................ Petitioner
Versus
1. The District Collector
Thiruvallur, Thiruvallur District.
2. The Tahsildar
Ambattur Taluk Office
Ambattur, Chennai 600 053............... Respondents
Writ
petition filed under Article 226 of the Constitution of India praying for a
writ of certiorarified mandamus calling
for the records in pursuant of the impugned order passed by the 2nd respondent
in his proceedings Mo.Mu.No.2890/2014/A7 dated 25.08.2014 and quash the same
and consequently direct the 2nd respondent to issue legal heirs certificate of
the petitioner's father Late G.Elumalai, who died on 01.11.1998 after
completing all formalities.
For Petitioner : Mr.V.Jaishankar
For Respondents : Mr.M.L.Mahendran,
GA
ORDER
Heard
Mr.V.Jaishankar, learned counsel for the petitioner and Mr.M.L.Mahendran,
learned Government Advocate appearing for the respondents and with their
consent, the writ petition is disposed of at the admission stage itself.
The
petitioner challenges the order passed by the 2nd respondent dated 25.08.2014
rejecting the petitioner's application for grant of legal heirship certificate
on the ground that the petitioner's father G.Elumalai, died on 01.11.1998 and
that 16 years have lapsed.
Learned
counsel placed reliance on an unreported decision of this Court in R.Manivalraj
V.s State of Tamil Nadu represented by its Secretary, Revenue Department, Fort
St George, Chennai and another, dated 10.07.2009, wherein this Court considered
the case where similar order of rejection was passed and wherein the
application seeking for legal heriship certificate was filed after the death of
the petitioner's father therein, after a period of 38 years and this Court,
after hearing the learned Additional Advocate General appearing for the
respondents who relied upon the Manual for Revenue Administration, disposed of
the writ petition with certain directions. The said order reads thus:-
This
writ petition is filed for issue of a Writ of Mandamus directing the 2nd
respondent to issue legal heirship certificate to the petitioner herein in
respect of death of his father R. Raju on the application made by the
petitioner dated 24.11.2008.
The
case of the petitioner is that his father, R. Raju Naidu died on 22.2.1971 and
as on date, the petitioner and his three sisters are the legal heirs of the
deceased R. Raju Naidu. According to the petitioner, he applied for legal
heirship certificate to the 2nd respondent by application dated 24.11.2008.
But, no orders were passed on the same. According to the learned counsel for
the petitioner, the petitioner is in need of the legal heirship certificate in
order to dispose of a property to arrange the marriage of one of his sisters.
Though the application seeking legal heirship certificate submitted to the 2nd
respondent along with the relevant documents was forwarded to Revenue Inspector
I for enquiry, the Revenue Inspector-I,
without assigning any reasons, declined to conduct an enquiry and consequently,
no legal heirship certificate was issued.
Learned
Additional Advocate General appearing for the respondents has produced the
manual for Revenue Department wherein, in the annexure to the said manual,
certain guidelines have been issued with regard to issuance of legal heirship
certificate and they are as follows:
According
to the learned Additional Advocate General, as per clauses 4 and 5 of the said
guidelines, on receipt of the application seeking legal heirship certificate,
the Revenue Inspector and the Village Administrative Officer concerned have to
enquire the applicant, his family members, relatives, neighbours and general
public and record statements from them. The officers concerned will also have
to carefully scrutinize documents such as ration card, Will, Marriage
invitation card and other documents relating to the assets of the deceased,
ascertain as to who are the legal heirs of the deceased and thereafter submit a
report to the Tahsildar. Learned Additional Advocate General, fairly conceded
that no time limit has been prescribed under the guidelines with regard to the
issue of legal heirship certificate. Therefore, the contention of the
petitioner that his father died 38 years back cannot be a ground to deny the
legal heirship certificate sought for by the petitioner without conducting an
enquiry as stipulated in the guidelines has to be accepted. Further, the
learned Additional Advocate General submitted that as per the above guidelines,
the Tahsildar concerned has to make an enquiry and issue the legal heirship
certificate. Now, as on date, though the petitioner is residing within Tambaram
jurisdiction, the application for legal heirship certificate has been made to
Tahsildar, Mambalam-Guindy Taluk, who is not the competent authority.
Considering
the above submission made by the learned Additional Advocate General, the
petitioner is at liberty to make a request for issue of legal heirship
certificate to Tahsildar, Tambaram and on receipt of such application, the
authority concerned shall consider and pass T.S.SIVAGNANAM, J., AP orders in
accordance with the guidelines issued in the manual for Revenue Department. The
writ petition is disposed of accordingly. No costs.
Taking
note of the above order, the impugned order passed by the 2nd respondent dated
25.08.2014 is set aside giving liberty to the petitioner to file a fresh
application along with all the records available in his cusotody, viz., the
details of the legal heirs, affidavits, statement etc. Thereafter, the 2nd
respondent shall conduct an enquiry into the matter bearing in ming the
decision of this Court cited supra and pass orders on merits and in accordance
with law. The petitioner is also directed to cooperate with the enquiry to be
conducted by the 2nd respondent.
With
the above direction, the writ petition stands disposed of. No costs.
03.02.2015
AP To
1.The
District Collector Thiruvallur, Thiruvallur District.
2.The
Tahsildar Ambattur Taluk Office Ambattur, Chennai 600 053.
WP.No.2526/2015
----------------------------------------------------
ABHISHEK 04012020
No comments:
Post a Comment