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Ravinder Kaur v. Gagandeep Singh

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 794Decided 6 Sept 2018
Civil Appeal Nos. 9167-9168 of 2018
Justice Kurian Joseph · Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul

Background

The parties, close family members, had been litigating against each other for more than two decades. Sensing a possibility of settlement, the Supreme Court first referred them to amicable discussion in 2016, and when that failed, referred them to the Supreme Court Mediation Centre, and later asked senior counsel Mr. Gopal Subramaniam to mediate personally between them.

Decision Breakdown

After months of mediation, the parties reached a comprehensive settlement covering this appeal and other related litigation between them, recorded in a mediator's report dated 5 September 2018. The Court disposed of the appeals strictly in terms of that settlement, making it part of the final decree, and also disposed of the other connected family litigations on the same basis. It additionally clarified that payments made under the settlement, being part of a family partition, would not attract capital gains tax. The Court specifically recorded its appreciation for the mediator's efforts in finally bringing the two decades of litigation to an end.

Lesson Learnt

Long-running family property disputes can often be resolved faster and more amicably through court-referred mediation than through continued adversarial litigation, and a court-recorded family settlement can also carry tax clarity (e.g., on capital gains) as part of the decree.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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