Karnataka HC Keeps Deceased Mother’s Name In Land Records For 1 Acre 23 Guntas Pending Probate Challenge

The dispute concerned 1 acre 23 guntas of land and a house property at Kallolli, originally recorded in the name of Gangawwa.

The petitioners claimed through Gangawwa’s Will dated 28 September 2018.

After probate was granted in P & SC No. 19/2020, their names were entered in the revenue records; the respondents challenged the probate and the related mutation orders.

In MFA No. 102111/2024, the High Court reserved liberty to seek revocation of the probate under Section 263 of the Indian Succession Act and stayed its operation.

The respondents’ revocation application remained pending when the Deputy Commissioner directed cancellation of the petitioners’ mutation entries.

The petitioners challenged that order and sought restoration of their entries

The Court applied no substantive statutory provision or precedent as the basis for its decision.

It noted that the respondents had been given liberty to seek revocation of the probate under Section 263 of the Indian Succession Act and that the validity and effect of the Will—and the parties’ rights arising from it—were to be determined in the pending probate proceedings.

The Court treated continuation of the deceased’s name in the revenue records as appropriate pending that determination.

The petitioners’ claim to the property depended on Gangawwa’s Will and the probate granted in P & SC No. 19/2020.

Because the respondents’ application to revoke that probate was pending, the Court considered it premature to maintain the petitioners’ names as the operative mutation holders.

It found no error in the Deputy Commissioner’s order, which made the petitioners’ position subject to the outcome of the probate proceedings, and directed that Gangawwa’s name remain in the revenue records until those proceedings were disposed of

It declined to quash the Deputy Commissioner’s order or restore the mutation entries exclusively in the petitioners’ names.

Gangawwa’s name is to continue in the revenue records until disposal of the proceedings in P & SC No. 19/2020, with the parties’ rights remaining subject to the outcome of those proceedings