Smt. Shashi Verma vs. Late Sh. Ram Babu Verma & Ors.
Background
The appellant, one of four siblings, sued her father and sister for a share in a property purchased using proceeds from the sale of their late mother's separate property, claiming it was ancestral/HUF property in which she held a one-third share. She alleged that after all siblings relinquished their shares in the mother's property for Rs. 23 lakhs (paid to a brother who bought them out), the money was meant to be used to jointly purchase a new property in her name along with her father and sister, but that they excluded her and kept the property solely in their own names. The defendants countered that the appellant had already been paid her Rs. 7,66,700/- share in cash before signing the Relinquishment Deed, and that the new property was bought solely from the father's own funds.
Decision Breakdown
The Trial Court had dismissed the suit, reasoning that no prudent person would sign a Relinquishment Deed for consideration without having received it, and the appellant had never challenged that deed. The High Court agreed, noting the appellant had taken no steps for over a decade to claim her alleged unpaid share or challenge the Relinquishment Deed, and that she had failed to produce any documentary evidence or examine any of the named eyewitnesses to corroborate her claim of non-payment, while the burden was on her to show the disputed property was bought from joint family funds. Finding no evidence that any part of the Rs. 23 lakh proceeds went into purchasing the new property, the Court dismissed the appeal.
Lesson Learnt
In family property disputes, signing a Relinquishment Deed acknowledging receipt of consideration, and then waiting years without challenging it or pursuing your claimed share, will make it very difficult to later prove you were never actually paid; courts expect contemporaneous action (a legal notice, a suit) and corroborating evidence, not delayed assertions alone.