Property & title disputes
A property dispute is a disagreement about who owns immovable property, how much of it they own, or what they may do with it. A title dispute is the narrower question of whether the document a person relies on actually gives them the right they claim.
Most property litigation in Kolkata begins with paper rather than with argument. The deed of conveyance, the earlier deeds in the chain, the mutation records, the tax receipts, the sanctioned plan and — where the land was ever tenanted or under an estate — the older records of right are what decide the matter. Where the chain of documents is unbroken and consistent, a dispute is usually about interpretation. Where a link is missing, forged, unregistered or inconsistent with possession, the dispute is about title itself.
The commonest patterns are familiar. Co-owners who inherited jointly and never divided the property; a seller who sold the same plot twice; a boundary wall or passage that moved by a few feet over decades; a promoter who did not convey what the agreement promised; a person in long possession without a document, or a person with a document but no possession; an attorney who acted beyond the power given to him.
Depending on what is wrong, the relief sought is a declaration of title, partition of a jointly held property, recovery of possession, cancellation of a document, an injunction to stop construction or transfer, or a combination of these. Which relief is available, and within what period of limitation, depends on when the right was first denied — which is why the date on which a demand was refused, or possession was disturbed, matters as much as the deeds.
Advocates at the chambers handle property and title matters, including the searches and inspections that precede a suit, drafting and filing, interlocutory applications, trial, and execution of a decree. Matters are conducted in the courts at Kolkata, and elsewhere in India where the property or the parties require it.
What this area covers
- Declaration of title and ownership in immovable property
- Partition of jointly held or inherited property
- Recovery of possession, and suits by and against persons in possession
- Cancellation or rectification of deeds and documents
- Boundary, easement, passage and right-of-way disputes
- Injunctions restraining construction, transfer or dispossession
- Agreements for sale, development agreements and specific performance
- Searches of the chain of title, mutation and record verification
The advocates who handle these matters
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Bimlesh Kumar Jain
In practice for over fifty years, in civil matters including property and matrimonial law.
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Aditya Kumar Jain
In practice for over ten years, with a focus on property law, working with a team of associates.