With reference to CB Patel’s call for AV readers to raise any issues that could be raised during India’s Prime Minister Modi’s forthcoming UK visit. I would like to raise a practical issue regarding the process for dealing with ancestral property in Gujarat for those who have lived abroad for many years. This particular problem is affecting older women who are entitled to inherit a share of their family’s ancestral property following the Amendment to the Hindu Succession Act 2005.
In Gujarat the e-Dhara system has been introduced to reduce corruption at the Talati level, but for individuals to obtain details of the Record of Rights (equivalent to UK Land Registry Record) for their ancestral property, a request has to be submitted in person at the District Collector’s office. The only other alternative is to give someone in India a letter authorising them to request and collect written details of the Record of Rights in person from the District Collectors Office.
For elderly women (usually widows) this process usually means that they have no say in what is to be done with their legal share of their family’s ancestral property in Gujarat. They have to rely on those who are resident in Gujarat to provide details, and this never happens because it is not in the interest of relatives living in Gujarat to acknowledge these women’s rights over their family’s ancestral property. This leads to family disputes and anguish for the women because they are not able to put all of their affairs in order and to spend their last days in peace.
A practical process/channel through which details of the Record of Right’s of the ancestral property could be requested electronically directly from the UK from the relevant District Collectors Office in Gujarat would make a huge difference. This would enable elderly people to obtain crucial information about what is rightfully theirs and to decide how to dispose of it as they see fit. This is important because it is vital to be able to tie up all ‘loose ends’ before saying the final goodbye.
Anjana N Patel
By email
