TMI Blog2018 (2) TMI 2097X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... rmony of the family is disturbed. Courts, therefore, are to enforce the letter and spirit of family settlements without going into technicalities. The court, after perusing the pleadings and documents does not find any illegality or perversity in the impugned judgement of the Trial court. Trial court judgment is affirmed. In view of the conduct of D2 who kept the family embroiled in a long standing dispute, after having fully derived benefit from the family settlement, the appeal is liable to be dismissed with costs. The appeal is accordingly dismissed with Rs. 1 lakh as costs, payable to the Plaintiff within 4 weeks. - RFA 776/2016 and CM Appls. 36696/2016 and 12784/2017 - - - Dated:- 9-2-2018 - PRATHIBA M. SINGH, J. For the Appellant : Sanjeev Sharma, Advocate For the Respondent : Manish Vashisht, Sameer Vashisht and Trisha Nagpal, Advocates JUDGMENT Prathiba M. Singh, J. 1. Late Shri Jiwan Dass Batra and Smt. Krishna Batra are the parents of the Appellant and the Respondent No. 1 and Respondent No. 2. Harish Kumar Batra/Respondent No. 1/Plaintiff (hereinafter, 'Plaintiff') filed a suit for declaration, permanent injunction and in alt ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... intiff should be entitled to 1/3rd share of the Delhi property. Prayers are set out below: a) A Decree declaring the document dated 28.03.1993 binding on the plaintiff and Defendants 1 2, whereby the Defendants 1 2 are the owners in respect of the Ground Floor and the First Floor with barsati of the Property No. 61, Old Gupta Colony, Delhi and the Plaintiff is the owner of the property No. 20, Sector-16-A, Chandigarh. b) A Decree of Permanent Injunction restraining Defendants 1 2, their legal heirs, assigns, servants etc. from disobeying the terms of the family arrangement and restraining them permanently from interfering in any manner or to deal with the Property bearing No. 20, Sector 16-A, Chandigarh. c) The cost of the suit be awarded in favour of the Plaintiff. In the alternative, if this Hon'ble Court comes to the conclusion that the document dated 28th March, 1993 is a partial testamentary in nature and the decree of declaration as prayed in Prayer (a) above about Property No. 61, Old Gupta Colony, Delhi only cannot be granted due to any reason what so ever then in that eventuality this Hon'ble Court may pass: d) A decree declaring the document ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s on issue Nos. 1 2. The main issue was issue No. 3 i.e. the effect of the family settlement dated 28th March 1993. The Trial Court records that the original family settlement date 28th March 1993 was placed on record as Ex. PW-1/2. The said document was signed by all parties and hence the same stood proved. The Trial Court further finds that the claim of D1 D2 to the Chandigarh property is belied, not just by the family settlement dated 28th March 1993 but also by the earlier Will dated 6th February 1986, by which the Chandigarh property was bequeathed by the father in favour of the Plaintiff. D1 D2 had signed as witnesses to this Will. The Trial Court thereafter records that PW-2, the official from MCD and PW-3 the Deputy Manager of the bank had proved that the Plaintiff had relinquished his share in the Delhi property. The stand of the Defendants that the family settlement is not binding was rejected as D1 D2 had obtained mutation of the Delhi property in their names, as per the family settlement. The Trial Court concluded that the Will dated 6th February 1986 was revoked upon the execution of the family settlement. Thus, the Trial Court held that the family settlement w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ent and overrides the Will of 1986. Ex. PW-1/3 is a set of documents obtained by the Plaintiff from the State Bank of India under RTI. They show that D3 had claimed reimbursement of a sum of Rs. 5,000/- as HRA by showing that his wife owned the Delhi property. In this set of documents given by the SBI, there is another Will dated 15th October, 1995 purported to be executed by Sh. Jiwan Das Batra showing that the Chandigarh property is to exclusively vest in the Plaintiff. This Will according to the Plaintiff was a fabricated document, but reflects the conduct of the D3 who, for the purpose of claiming HRA, had shown that the Delhi property was in his wife's name. Reliance by the Plaintiff on this document clearly establishes that in order to claim HRA a Will was set up by the D3 showing that the Delhi property had been bequeathed to his wife and that he was living on rent of Rs. 5,000/- in the said property. This set of documents was duly proved by the witness from the Bank. Insofar as the Delhi property is concerned, the Plaintiff had relinquished his share and thus, the same was mutated by the Defendants in their respective names. 13. During the pendency of the suit an app ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... sole owner, then the antecedent title must be assumed and the family arrangement will be upheld, and the Courts will find no difficulty in giving assent to the same; (6) Even if bona fide disputes, present or possible, which may not involve legal claims are settled by a bona fide family arrangement which is fair and equitable the family arrangement is final and binding on the parties to the settlement. .................................... 38. ......... In the first place in view of the fact that the family arrangement was oral and the mutation petition was merely filed before the court of the Assistant Commissioner for information and for mutation in pursuance of the compromise, the document was not required to be registered, therefore, the principle that there is no estoppel against the statute does not apply to the present case. Assuming, however, that the said document was compulsorily registrable the courts have generally held that a family arrangement being binding on the parties to it would operate as an estoppels by preventing the parties after having taken advantage under the arrangement to resile from the same or try to revoke it. This position has reiterated ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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