• To recover money paid by making agri-land sale agreement

This is in Karnataka, Party-(A) is 80 Year Old and belongs to SC, Party-(B) is 55 Year old

(1) Land is conditional lease grant (5 years lease saguvali chit) to the party-(A) in 1960 for 5 years

(2) Party-(A) have not applied for permanent grant or for permanent "Saguvali Chit" till 2015

(3) It looks like as per the original "5-years Saguvali chit", the land would go back to the Govt but I the party(A) has made some settlement among the family and alienated to his elder son Party-(B) around 2000

(4) Party-(A) have three sons (B,C and D - all are married and have 18+ son/daughters)

(5) Party-(B) have Khatha in his name on the Land but No EC, No Sale Deed, No Regrant, No Permanent Saguvali Chit

(6) Party-(X) is a local bank granted a "Agre loan" of 25K to Party-(B) on the land

(7) Party-(Y) is a engineer by profession, also belongs to SC and have no agre land till now but born-and-brought up in Karnataka, and is eligible to purchase agre land

(8) Party-(Y) came to a conclusion that the "Land has clear title (my big mistake)"based on the "Bank Loan" granted by Party-(X)

(9) Party-(Y) paid 3Lakh (2 Lakh through NEFT to the Party-(B) account and 1Lakh as cash) as an advance amount to Party-(B) and performed a "Sale Agreement" and registered it with the sub-registrar by paying all the required fee.

(10) 14 major persons (All as per the "Vamsha Vriksha") have signed on the "Sale Agreement" before the "Sub-registrar" with the photo, ID-Proof and thumb impressions. 

(11) Later Party-(Y) came to know that the land titles are not clear and cant be purchased as it might have gone back to the govt after the 5-years lease period from 1960-1965

(12) Party-(Y) asked the Party-(B) to return the advance paid amount but Party-(B) refuses to do so

(13) Party-(B) filed a recovery suit in the court under "7 Rule 1 and 2 of CPC" paying the fixed recovery fee, notice charges etc as applicable

(14) 10 People have taken the court notice but 4 people are not accepting for the third time.

(15) Party-(Y) is planning to go for news paper notice after the court approval

==========================================
Now,
(i) Will I be able to recover the amount?
(ii) Will I be able to recover with some legal interest on to the amount, what may be the interest rate?
(iii) Will I be able to recover the court-fee paid (almost 40K) to file recovery suit?
(iv) It is already 4th hearing and counting, how long it gonna take?
(v) Will I also be able to file a criminal suit against them? like cheating case as they have completely misguided me and not ready to give the money back.
Asked 8 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu

2 answers received in 30 minutes.

Lawyers are available now to answer your questions.

6 Answers

1) title of B is not clear and marketable . Lease was only of 5 years . On expiry of lease A had no rights on said land and could not have transferred land in favour of B

2) there must be clause in agreement for sale that if title on investigation is found to be not clear and marketable buyer would be entitled to cancel agreement and seek refund of advance paid

3) you should get refund of money paid with interest , court fees paid

4) suit would take years to be disposed of

5) file complaint of cheating criminal breach of trust against seller

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94520 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

i) Yes, since you have filed the recovery suit properly.

ii) Have you calculated the interest in the recovery suit and have made a prayer for the same in the plaint?

iii) If you win the case, the court fee paid also shall be refunded to you by the court order

iv) It may take at least another 5 years for disposal in the trial court.

v) NO. criminal complaint is not maintainable

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1. 'Will you be able to' is a hypothetical question in as much as it relates to what the judicial decree will, which is subject to factors like pleadings, evidence and how the case is actually conducted by you in the court.

2. If you are held entitled to recover the principal amount then interest will also follow.

3. On what basis party B filed the recovery suit is not clear.

4. The court will proceed ex parte against parties who have been evading the summons.

5. A criminal prosecution for cheating may also be launched if there was suppression of the fact that the title was not free and marketable.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

1) you would be entitled to interest from date of filing of suit till payment

2) it is duty of seller to make our clear and marketable title to property . If seller does not have clear title cancel the agreement and seek refund of advance money paid with interest

3) if seller refuses to refund advance paid you can file complaint of cheating against seller

Ajay Sethi
Advocate, Mumbai
94520 Answers
7485 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

iii) If you win the case, the court fee paid also shall be refunded to you by the court order

-- "If you win the case"!!!, It is clear that I have paid them money (NEFT-Cash), why is "If" here, is there any other chance that the case may go against me? by the way, they have accepted that the money has been transferred and they have also recorded their reply with the court.

Please remember that you have approached the court for seeking relief when the opposite party has refused to give it, hence mere filing case shall not confer you the rights to get the relief. You have to present before the court that why you have approached the court and what made you to be aggrieved,what relief do you expect the court to direct the opposite party to give to you and what are the circumstances that made you to approach court etc. All these presentations along with final arguments are to be made in a convincing manner before the court. The court will hear the opposite side too in the similar manner.

After hearing both sides, the court will decide the case on merits, hence without any confirmation one cannot be very sure to have won the case even before filing it. This 'if' may be for that least chance of say 1% going agaisnt you. Dont feel discouraged by this, because these are routine words.

iv) It may take at least another 5 years for disposal in the trial court.

-- This worries me

You cannot help it, because a court case depends on various factors including the procedures to be adopted by the court stepwise. Once you get into the litigation you will come to know the reasons for delay and you will get accustomed to it.

v) NO. criminal complaint is not maintainable

-- Why is it not possible, Mr.Ajay Sethi has mentioned that I could file a criminal case?

You try filing a criminal case, the police may not entertain any complaint stating that this is a civil remedy and they cannot interfere. The seller has not refused but the law of the land has not permitted to progress the selling process, hence there can be no intentional cheating by the seller. Moreover every lawyer has his own opinion, if you want to try the other lawyer's opinion, you may proceed, you should not dispute my opinion comparing to the other lawyer's opinion to that of mine and ask for reasons for differing to it.That will not be decency. In a public forum like this while many lawyers give their opinion to your query, you can choose the best one that suits instead of disputing one another's opinion.

T Kalaiselvan
Advocate, Vellore
84711 Answers
2172 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

It does seem that you have sound legal basis to stand on your feet in the court, So prosecute your case on merits.

Ashish Davessar
Advocate, Jaipur
30763 Answers
972 Consultations

5.0 on 5.0

Ask a Lawyer

Get legal answers from lawyers in 1 hour. It's quick, easy, and anonymous!
  Ask a lawyer