The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike will have to give the holder’s khata in favour of a person having life interest under a Will and a joint regular khata in favour of all the legal heirs of the property owner, said the High Court of Karnataka.
“A life interest created in favour of a person does not by itself confer the title on the property but confers the possessory right to enjoy the usufruct of the property during the life time of such person. On the expiry of the person having a life interest, either the directions of the Will or the inheritance laws would come into force requiring devolution of the property of such legal heirs of the deceased,” the court said.
Hence, the court said, it would be clear that a person having a life interest through the Will is not the owner of the property but has a ‘possessory right’ to enjoy the property during the lifetime and is, therefore, required to be treated differently than that of the other legal heirs.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order while directing the BBMP to issue the holder’s khata in favour of the petitioner, Shanthamma, wife of one late H.A. Veerabhadrappa, and joint khata in the name of all the legal heirs, three sons and a daughter of the petitioner.
Veerabhadrappa had left a Will in which he had created a life interest in favour of his wife, and after her lifetime, the property was to devolve into three sons and a daughter. Ms. Shantamma approached the BBMP to enter her name in the BBMP, which rejected her application, asking to secure the release deed from the other legal heirs, particularly from the daughter, who objected to issuing khata only in the name of her mother.
In the present case, the court said since the property is possessed of and enjoyed by the petitioner, she will be responsible for making payment of necessary and applicable taxes for the property, but she would not be entitled to sell, deal with or transfer her life interest let alone the property or any portion to any third party. Also, the sons and the daughter too would not be entitled to sell, deal with or transfer the property or any portion to any third party during the life time ofthe petitioner.
While stating that there is no need for the sons and the daughter to execute the release deed in this case, the Court directed the BBMP to issue the holder’s khata of the property to the petitioner and issue a joint regular khata in respect of the petitioner and her children.
