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| Scam in garb of oral gift deeds | | | Et Report
Jammu, Feb 22 : Last year the Government initiated a probe regarding mutations generally known as Intiqaal recorded on the basis of oral gift deeds or Hibba e Zabani in Tehsil North (Hazratbal) in district Srinagar. The Government even placed a Tehsildar of Srinagar North tehsil under suspension for making unnecessary oral mutations in lieu of illegal gratification but till date not a single investigation has been made in other tehsils of the state where such frauds have been committed. There are some important aspects which have to be made public so that this matter is debated publically, which may help the State Vigilance Commission to investigate into this matter and to streamline the process of transfer of property by way of Oral Gifts. Oral gift (Hibba e Zabani) by one Muslim to another is unimpedeble provision under the Muslim law. Its admissibility has not only been confirmed by the Supreme Court of India but also by a full bench of the J&K High Court many years back. However after the pronouncement of the judgment of the Supreme Court or prior to that by J&K High Court ,
a responsibility was cast upon the state Government in the Law and Revenue departments to examine its implications and formulate necessary guidelines to be followed in such cases which has not been done as yet as the controlling provision for transfer of title in respect of immovable properties is contained section 138 of J&K Transfer of Properties Act where under title cannot be transferred without the support of a legally valid and registered instrument. An act of legislation like Transfer of Properties Act etc has always an overriding effect upon all pronouncements, judgments observations etc unless such provision of an Act is declared ultra virus to the constitution or by any separate act of legislation.
Oral mutations a blow to state exchequer : It is not only in Tehsil North Srinagar that such mutations have been recorded but this practice is prevalent throughout the state just to abuse the process of law and to cause serious blow to the state exchequer. The mutations on the basis of oral gifts have kicked off at a large scale immediately after regulations prescribing the valuation of land were framed by the Government. In order to save the stamp duty and registration fees this course was introduced none other than the Revenue agencies themselves. Even prior to such valuation regulations, collusive decrees were obtained from courts especially in North & South Kashmir. These aspects also need to be probed and guilty punished. Mechanism needed for making Oral gift deeds : The Supreme Court judgment on oral gift by one Muslim to another has yet another serious implication in the state of J&K. For instance if a Muslim from Srinagar gifts away a part of his property to a Muslim residing in UP and in terms of Supreme Court judgment there is no impediment in doing so ,but in that event state subject law will be grossly violated. This aspect can only be dealt with by the guidelines which shall have to be issued to deal with the fallouts of the judgment. There is also a related aspect to the effect that in case of oral gift only a minor statement is recorded by a Patwari on the mutation register. There is no proper mechanism of any identification nor photographs of the donor are passed on the register.
As such there is every likely hood of impersonation and resultant multiplicity of litigations. This also requires a correctional measure.It is matter of great concern that there is no regulatory mechanism in place for registration and licensing of the property dealers with the result un scrupulous and un registered declarers always find a space in the faulty system to grind their own axe. It has been observed that a strong land mafia has emerged in the state and such mafia is in league with ground level revenue agencies which has completely polluted the Real Estate business. In other states real estate dealers are governed by a proper mechanism and any unfair dealer is always accountable before law. But in our state every Dom, Dick and Harry plunges into real estate business and the same group is always active not only in grabbing the state land but also in the conversion of agriculture land (Aabi Awal) in housing colonies , shopping malls etc.
.When contacted A K Wani a retired senior revenue officer of the state said that the Government needs to look into all the aspects of making Oral Gift deeds etc . " I won't blame only a particular section of society for resorting to making oral gifts and evading stamp duty proceedings but the Government is also very much responsible for all this mess as the stamp duty has been increased manifold and ordinary people who want to purchase some property through their hard earned money cannot afford to pay such a huge amount towards the Government as stamp duty. The Government had increased the stamp duty some years back with the intention of revenue generation but this didn't happen and instead backfired them . The Government should decrease the stamp duty and that is the only way to streamline this whole process" Wani added. |
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