It is also important to be aware that this certificate is a prerequisite for the processing of other applications in departments. Therefore, it is a mandatory strenuous journey that you must undertake. The applicants further argued that a statutory certificate of inheritance is merely a recognition of a pre-existing right and does not create a new right. It was therefore not necessary to decide the issue. There was no legislation in the state to issue legal certificates of inheritance, and so it was only due to decrees. On the latter issue, the court found that there was a difference between the Certificate of Inheritance issued under Part X of the Indian Succession Act and the Certificate of Inheritance issued by the Tahsildar. While the former concerned a debt or security, the latter did not deal with such an issue. The Madurai Court of the Madras High Court ruled that if a brother or sister applies for a legal certificate of inheritance for their deceased brother or sister without leaving a Class I heir, this may be taken into account by the Tahsildar. The legal certificate of inheritance can be issued if there are no competing claimants.
September 24, 2019 – The above guidelines have been revised by Circular No. 9 of 2019 of the Commissioner of Tax Administration. This circular established a dichotomy between Class I legal heirs (or what the circle calls “direct”) and Class II legal heirs (or “indirectly”). Point 8(i) of that circular prohibited the issue of statutory certificates of inheritance to Class II heirs. The issuance of a legal certificate of inheritance is state-specific, as some states such as Maharashtra and Odisha have special regulations while others do not. In Tamil Nadu, there is no separate legislation, and only administrative circulars issued from time to time by the state government have been followed by the authorities for the issuance of statutory certificates of inheritance. As regards the fourth question, the Court found that the government orders had been made in the exercise of executive power and that, therefore, the power of the Tahsildar was not without legal sanction. The Court also noted that the Court`s powers under section 226 were limited.
It could issue Mandamus, which only orders the Tahsildar to dispose of the request. The Court found that the applicants, represented by Mr Naresh Vassudhev and Mr P.V. Balasubramaniam, among others, argued that it was wrong to say that the Ministry of Finance does not have the power to issue statutory certificates of inheritance. The power supply was taken over by G.O. Ms. No.2906 of 04.11.1981. It was pointed out that such circulars were subject to sanctions and that non-compliance with those circulars would give rise to disciplinary proceedings. Reference was also made to a judgment in the W.P.
(MD) case. 22184 of 2021 of 12.01.2022, in which the Tahsildar was instructed to issue a certificate to the legal heirs of class II if there were no objections. According to § 8 of the letter, Bruder is excluded from the application for a LR certificate. Judge C.V. Karthikeyan noted that although legally a brother or sister is only a Class II legal heir, but if the deceased died as a single or unmarried, or died after the marriage without issue, and the spouse also died before him, then a party is obliged to go to a civil court, especially if there is no defendant challenging the claim. would only encourage the creation of a legal fiction. Tahsildar or the village administration official would know the details of the family and would be in a better position to verify whether the applicant had made a request in good faith. There can be no transfer of this charge to the civil court in all cases, and the tax authorities are obliged to do so, the judge said. The court settled a number of petitions, referred to the Supreme Court`s decisions in this regard and gave a series of instructions to the Tahsildars.
The court found that applying Article 8 of the Hindu Inheritance Act to Muslims or Christians would lead to surprising results and therefore ordered the government to issue a new circular without the aforementioned loopholes. The Court also held that the decisions in N Dhanalakshmi v. District Revenue Officer, Salem, and E Thirumurthy v. The Chennai collector – which said the Tahsildar did not have the authority to issue such certificates – is rejected. The Court also clarified that the legal instrument of inheritance issued by the Tahsildar cannot be equated with that of the deed of inheritance issued by the court under the Indian Succession Act 1925. Die Richter PN Prakash, Richter R. Hemalatha and Justice AA Nakkiran suggested that the concept of inheritance is determined by different personal laws. Therefore, the legal certificate of inheritance issued by the Tahsildar does not affect the legal rights of a party transferred to him under personal law.
The obligation to obtain a legal certificate of inheritance arises with the sudden and premature death of a family member. Children and loved ones would suffer unexplained psychological trauma and pain due to the sudden void created in the house. This tragedy is compounded by the Ministry of Finance, as loved ones are faced with the heartbreaking experience of running from pillar to pillar to complete the cumbersome procedures of obtaining a legal certificate of inheritance. Exclusion of the father from obtaining a legal certificate of inheritance on the grounds that he is a legal heir of Class II. Thus, the Court held that the prefix “legal heir” used in the certificates issued by the Tahsildar was manifestly an abuse of language and that they were merely “relationship certificates” reflecting the Tahsildar`s opinion on the relationship between the applicant and the persons named therein and the testator; You cannot change a person`s legal heir status under their personal law. The largest bank, after a thorough examination of the judicial discord, found that the latest circular, issued by the Commissioner of Tax Administration in September 2019, was riddled with several anomalies and legal misunderstandings. Some of them were: In Tamil Nadu, tax authorities such as the Tahsildars issued legal certificates of inheritance based on investigations by financial inspectors, village administration officials, etc. In its proceedings of 27.04.1979, the tax authorities had prescribed the issue of a legal certificate of succession as one of the tasks of the Tahsildars.