Property dispute decided after five decades with 58 parties

One of the oldest property disputes which dragged three generations of a family to court has reached finality after nearly five decades, with a Delhi court asking the litigants to arrive at a mutual agreement on the partitioning of the three buildings. The litigation which was initiated in 1968 between five parties, including four family members and DDA, has ended up with 58 litigants. The suit was filed between four brothers, all residents of central Delhi, seeking partition of three properties of their father after his death. During pendency of the matter, the original parties had died and the case was pursued by their children, who were the legal heirs, many of whom also died, and grand children. Additional District Judge Kamini Lau held in the verdict that the suit properties can be partitioned and granted six months to the parties to arrive at a mutual settlement regarding partition of the premises in terms of their share declared in the preliminary decree passed in November 1975. "In case of a mutual settlement/agreement between the parties for partition, the settlement deed shall be filed before the court within six months which shall form part of the final decree," the court said. The court further said that in case the parties fail to arrive at a settlement, the valuation of suit properties, two in Karol Bagh and one in Gurgaon, be made on the basis of the existing notified circle rates of the area. It also granted liberty to the parties to purchase the share of each other by making payment of the share of the other person. The court said if the litigants are unable to partition the properties in the two modes suggested by it, they can file an application for execution of the order after which the buildings would be auctioned and the amount would be divided among them as per their shares.

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