you have right in your ancestral property
2) there is no evidence of any giving and taking ceremony performed
3) no deed of adoption is executed
4) your educational certificates reflect your father name
5) you should succeed in appeal before HC
Right on ancestral property after adoption
I am 84 years old man (DOB 4 Aug 1933) hailing from a Hindu Brahmin family. I was born and brought up in Hyderabad (erstwhile Nizam state). Till 1996, I and my 2 brothers had cordial relations and performed all Shraddha karma for my parents together. In 1996 my brothers were selling the ancestral property and denied my share in the ancestral property. They said that I was given in adoption and hence would not have any right in the ancestral property of my parents. They claim that I had been given in adoption to my Mother's Maternal Grandmother (i.e. my maternal great-great-grandmother) in Aug 1945. My brothers submitted a photocopy of a document stating the adoption details. But this document does not bear my parents' signatures. I had requested the District Collectorate (Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy District) about the about the original document. After a thorough search, they reported that there is no such document available with them. My parents, during their lifetime, never informed me by about this. And also my Father's name continued in all my wedding, educational and employment documents. If the said adoption ceremony really did happen, then, as per Hindu Brahmin adoption customs and rituals, my SURNAME and GOTHRA should have been changed. But my SURNAME and GOTHRA continued and never changed. My father was the Village Patwari. And he maintained the property of my Great-great-grandmother. To ensure that the lands of my great-great grandmother are not retained within the family and not given up in the land ceiling, my father, with my great-great-grandmother's consent, had arranged to transfer some of her lands onto my name. We had lodged a petition in Hyderabad lower court in 1996. After 12 years, in 2008, the judgment was given in favor of my brothers. We had appealed to the Telangana High Court in 2008 and are awaiting for justice. Given this facts, can I be denied my right to my ancestral property? Is it not my birthright? Regards, S. R. Rao
Asked 8 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu
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5 Answers
NO. You can not be denied your rights over ancestral property. Absolutely it is your birth right and you are having all rights, title and share in ancestral properties. According to your contents covenanted in the matter, there is no adoption took place and photo copy of adoption deed produced by your brothers is not genuine and it seems it is fabricated one. Since there is no change in your Gothra and Surname and more specifically your father name showing in your educational certificates you can easily disprove your brothers claim of you were adopted to others. But however the lower given judgment in favour of your brothers you rightly challenged the same before Hon'ble High COurt of Judicature at Hyderabad. Pursue the case properly and you will be succeed in higher court.
Great great grandmother's property cannot be ancestral property.
If you have lost your case in the lower court then it may be because of not contesting the case properly.
Or without knowing the cae details and the reason that why you have lost the case and what is the nature of suit, no concrete opinion can be given.
Moreover since you have already preferred an appeal, you should await for the judgment in the appeal.
Revert with more details so that you can get more proper opinion. Actually the burden lies in the party to prove their allegations agaisnt you that you were given in adoption.
A few points to add clarity: 1) The property in question (in which I am seeking my right) is the ancestral property from my Father and is NOT the property from my maternal great grandmother (the one who is said to have adopted me). 2) My maternal great grandmother was a widow and did not have any male children. 3) The so called adoption was said to have happened in Oct 1945. However, there were no registered documents found or produced in court. 4) My father, who was the Village Patwari, maintained the property/lands of my maternal great grandmother. 5) My parents neither informed me about the adoption nor about the property from my maternal great grandmother. 6) There were some lands of my maternal great grandmother that my father facilitated to be passed on to me. I got to know about my maternal great grandmother's property in my name only in 1975 when the government initiated the Land ceiling proceedings. My query was: What are the laws that are applicable for adoptions in a Hindu Family that happened prior to 1956? Can I be denied my right in my ancestral property because there were other properties given to me by my maternal great grandmother?
Asked 7 years ago
1)The main provisions of the law that governed adoption of a Hindu male by another Hindu male, prior to 21 December 1956, are briefly stated here:
2)Every male Hindu could adopt provided that he was competent to do so, i.e., he had to be of sound mind and should have attained the age of ‘discretion’. Such a person could have been a minor but over the age of 15.
3)Such Hindu male could not have had a son, grandson or great-grandson, natural or adopted, living at the time of adoption.
4)A father and mother were the only persons who could lawfully give a boy in adoption, with the primary right being the father’s.
5)The person being adopted had to be a male.
6)He should have been of the same caste as his adopting father.
7)There does not appear to be an age restriction on the boy being adopted; i.e. a boy over the age of 18 could also be adopted.
8)The most important ceremony was the physical act of giving and receiving, with the intent to transfer the boy from one family into another. This physical act was necessary to complete the adoption and make it valid. While no form was prescribed, what should have been done was the natural parent should have handed over the adopted boy and the adopting parent should have received him.
9) You cannot be denied right to ancestral property jut because you inherited other properties from your maternal great grand mother
If you have been adopted by someone then you will acquire the rights of the adopted parents only.
If your adoption is confirmed then you cannot claim rights in your biological father.