MUMBAI: The Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property (CEP) has 16,000 "enemy properties" across the country in its possession worth thousands of crores, including several buildings and plots in Mumbai and Thane. Some instances of such properties in Mumbai are land and buildings in prominent locations in Mumbai and Thane owned by the Estate of KBHS Meherbaksh, and two cinema halls which were in the name of one Mohammed Suleman. The CEP is currently fighting around 550 cases in the country as the India-based relatives of the owners of the properties, who shifted to Pakistan, have staked their claim to the assets. A government notification on January 7, empowered the CEP to evict encroachers from such properties and act against defaulters. Properties in the possession of the CEP are mainly in the form of land, houses, buildings, agricultural land, cinema halls, shares, debentures, lockers and bank accounts. The office of the CEP was created under the Enemy ...

All the details of any transaction on the property will be listed in it. It is important for you to get this certificate if you plan to buy the property or take a home loan, says Preenand P. An encumbrance certificate is evidence that the property in question is free from any monetary and legal liabilities. It is evidence that the property can be sold as a free title and the ownership will come to you without any associated baggage. This is a document that you will be able to procure from the registration authority’s office. It is your assurance that the property you are about to invest in is clear of any legal dues and has a marketable title. Reference Encumbrance is simply a reference to any liabilities in the form of a mortgage or a loan against the property that has not been cleared. The encumbrance certificate is provided from the sub-registrar’s office where the particular property is registered. All the details of any transaction on the property will be lis...

NEW DELHI: In a landmark verdict that will benefit thousands of land owners in Delhi, the high court on Wednesday allowed registration of properties even if valued below the minimum circle rate of the area. A bench of chief justice G Rohini and justice R S Endlaw relied on provisions of the Indian Stamp Act to revive discretionary powers vested with the state government under Section 47A to register sale of property below the local circle rate. Over time, the government had come to treat circle rate as the absolute measure of registering properties, despite the Stamp Act giving room for maneuver. The bench has provided property owners an opportunity to convince the Collector of Stamps why their asset should be valued below the circle rate of the area. The registrar/sub registrar will now accept such sale/conveyance deeds and forward it to the Collector of Stamps before whom the property owner can appear and explain the reasons for lower valuation of his property. The HC rec...

After a person dies, there are often pretty big rifts in the family.Hidden stresses come out in the open and contesting claims to the deceased person’s property is fairly common.The problems are compounded by the fact that the law defines self acquired and ancestral property differently from common  parlance. According to the law for Hindus,self acquired property is any property purchased by an individual from his resources or any property he acquired as a part of the division of any Ancestral/Coparcenary property or acquired as a legal heir or by any Testamentary document such as ‘Will’ etc. On the other hand,ancestral or Hindu coparcenary property refers to any property acquired by the Hindu great grand father, which then passes  undivided down the next three generations up to the present generation of great grand son/daughter. In short , firstly,this property should be four generation old, secondly it should not have been divided by the users in the joint Hindu f...

A   succession certificate   is issued by a civil court to the legal   heirs   of a deceased person. If a person dies without leaving a will, a succession certificate can be granted by the court to realise the debts and securities of the deceased. It establishes the authenticity of the heirs and gives them the authority to have securities and other assets transferred in their names as well as inherit debts. It is issued as per the applicable laws of inheritance on an application made by a beneficiary to a court of competent jurisdiction. A succession certificate is necessary, but not always sufficient, to release the assets of the deceased. For these, a death certificate, letter of administration and no-objection certificates will be needed.   Application:   A petition needs to be filed with the district court or high court within whose jurisdiction the asset is located.   Details:   The name and relationship of the petitioner, names of all h...

NEW DELHI: The city government and municipal bodies were today restrained by the Delhi   High Court   from changing the   land use   of any   road   in the national capital without its prior   approval .   Citing an apex court order relating to change of land use of roads in   Delhi , Justice Manmohan asked the government and the three municipal corporations to seek a judicial order in a pending petition in the high court on the issue before issuing any fresh notification in this regard.   "Keeping in view the aforesaid categorical order of the Supreme Court, the respondents are restrained from issuing any fresh notification from declaring any road in Delhi as commercial/mixed land use without leave of this court in writ petition 4677/1985," the bench said.   The court, meanwhile, issued a notice seeking the responses of the government and municipal bodies by the next date of hearing, July 17.   It passed the order on ...

Buying a property is fraught with many risks these days. From encroachments to disputes to forgery, the issues are multifold. Hence it is important that one is aware of all the documents to be checked and all the issues to be cognizant of. Here is a check list for anyone planning to buy agricultural land in the States of Telangana & Andhra Pradesh. Similar land documents exist in every state albeit with different names. When you buying agricultural land in Telangana or AP, Know the land address:   Find out the exact extent, survey number and boundaries of the land that you are intending to buy and the revenue village in which it is located. It is important to ascertain whether the details of the land shown on the paper and the land on ground are the same. Village map, Tippan/FMB and Pahani/Adangal will help in knowing these details. Also, it’s helpful to get the land surveyed before proceeding to purchase. Classification of the land:   Law prohibits purchase of cer...