IEP Chandigarh
Haryana Right to Service Commission slaps a fine of Rs. 25,000/- to the Estate Manager, Housing Board, Rewari for rejecting an application of transfer of property in the names of applicant Sh. Sanjay Dargan and his elder sister, Ms. Kamlesh Gomber despite having last and final registered will of his father, in their names.
The complainant alleged that the respondent’s office purposefully denied his application on the basis of spurious grounds and that the respondent engaged in substantial misconduct, collusion, and abuse of authority in order to justify the complainant’s actions.
Giving more information in this regard, RTS Secretary said that as soon as the matter was flagged to the commission, the Commission took immediate cognizance of the issue and called for a detailed inquiry.
During the investigation, it was found that the father of the complainant amended his Will three times due to the death of their one family member. The last Will was made on August 14, 2019 where he consciously excluded the family of his deceased relative.
He further informed that the applicant applied for transfer of property in case of death (uncontested) vide SARAL ID TPCD/2022/00294. Following this, a public notice was published on June 8, 2022 in the newspaper, as per procedure to invite objections within 30 days.
In response to the notice, an objection was received on June 13, 2022 enclosing a registered Will dated August 8, 2014. Subsequently, the Board issued a letter dated June 21, 2022 to the complainant to provide the succession certificate in his favour. However, since the complainant could not submit the succession certificate on July 11, 2022, the Board rejected the application with comments ‘Allotte Sh. Har Bhagwan (Father) has made 3 registered Will and always made different nominees. Please give one registered will onto the office which is legal’.
The Commission after detailed inquiry concluded that it is a fact that the allottee, Shri Har Bhagwan (Father) had executed three registered Wills and in the last Will, he had mentioned the factum of execution of earlier two registered Wills which he revoked in his last Will. Therefore, the last registered Will had force of law, legally valid and should have been acted upon by the respondent. The commission found that the objection raised has no legal sanctity because previously registered Will has been specifically revoked.
The commission further found that rejection of the last Will and asking the complainant to obtain a succession certificate is nothing but harassment and abuse of power and dereliction of duty. The commission stated it was a clear case but was stretched for no reason. While taking stringent action, the Commission imposed a penalty of Rs. 20,000/- on the Estate Manager, Housing Board Rewari and a compensation of Rs 5,000 to be given to the complainant for harrasment caused to him.
