Finally, Bombay HC settles property fight dragging on for 75 yrs | India News
MUMBAI: A family property dispute that started before the Bombay High Court just two weeks after the Constitution came into force has finally ended after 76 years. On February 27, the court ordered the division of the remaining one acre (4,271 sq m) land in Yerwada, Pune, among the heirs of landowner MMH Janmohamed who left two large and valuable plots, including one on Deccan College Road, reports Swati Deshpande. In a judgment delivered on March 11, Justice Farhan Dubash ended the decades-long legal battle between the two sets of heirs. The dispute dates back to February 8, 1950, when Ibrahim Chotani and other heirs filed a suit against Osman Chotani – another heir – demanding partition and their share in the property. In March 1950, the High Court appointed a court receiver to administer the disputed properties, allowed their sale and ordered a preliminary partition later that month. The Government of Maharashtra acquired the Deccan College Road plot and in 1979 compensation was distributed among the heirs. There was a dispute over a 16 acre plot in Yerwada. The case becomes more complicated when the heirs of a manager appointed by the landowner claim rights over the property during his lifetime, claiming that the land was given in lieu of debt. They claimed half of the property relying on a written note dated June 1946 from Osman, the court noted. Another person claimed ownership citing adverse possession. In 1952, the Court Receiver filed a suit in the Pune Civil Court seeking possession of the land. In June 1953, the manager’s heirs agreed to relinquish their larger claim in exchange for one-fourth share of the 16-acre plot, acknowledging that the property belonged to the Chotani family. A compromise was reached in 1955, but the land remained undivided for another three decades.
