Chandro And Anr vs Amit Kumar And Anr

Headnote AI-drafted · Reviewed and approved

The appellants, mother and son of the judgment debtor Dinesh Kumar, filed third party objections in execution proceedings challenging the attachment of property claimed to be ancestral. The property had descended from Fusa to Badlu (via mutation after Fusa's death in 1919), and then from Badlu to his sons Ishwar and Radhey Shyam by way of a consent decree dated 05.08.1995. The Executing Court and the Appellate Court both held that the property was ancestral/coparcenary in nature and that the judgment debtor had a birth right in it, rendering the Release Deed No. 6510 dated 12.03.2015 executed by Ishwar in favour of the appellants void to the extent it negated the judgment debtor's share.

The appellants contended before the High Court that property becomes ancestral only when received from three male lineal ascendants by way of natural succession, and that since Ishwar received the property through a consent decree rather than natural succession, it had become self-acquired property in Ishwar's hands. Reliance was placed on Mohinder Kaur v. Pargat Singh 2010(2) PLR 742. The decree holder countered that transfer by consent decree merely accelerated succession and did not alter the ancestral character of the property, relying on Arshnoor Singh v. Harpal Kaur AIR (2019) SC 3098 and other precedents.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in this Execution Second Appeal, upheld the concurrent findings of the courts below, holding that the property retained its ancestral and coparcenary character notwithstanding the mode of transfer by consent decree, and that the judgment debtor's share therein was liable to be attached for realization of the decretal amount. The Release Deed executed to defeat the decree holder's rights was held void to the extent of the judgment debtor's share.

Catchwords: ancestral property · coparcenary property · execution proceedings · third party objections · release deed · consent decree · natural succession · acceleration of succession · attachment of property · Hindu Mitakshara law · judgment debtor · birth right · mala fide transfer