Sister’s Will-Based Land Mutation Stays Set Aside As Chhattisgarh HC Cites Pending Property Suit

The Tahsildar ordered mutation in favour of Sumitra Bai on the basis of a registered Will. The Sub-Divisional Officer set aside that order, and the Commissioner affirmed the decision in an appeal under Section 44(2) of the Chhattisgarh Land Revenue Code, 1959.

Respondent No. 5, the petitioner’s sister, had filed a civil suit challenging, among other things, the Will’s effect and the Tahsildar’s mutation order; the suit remained pending.

Sumitra Bai sought to have the Commissioner’s order quashed and the Tahsildar’s order restored.

Section 44(2) of the Chhattisgarh Land Revenue Code, 1959, provided the appeal invoked before the Commissioner.

Mutation entries are fiscal in nature and neither create nor extinguish title; disputed title, including a claim founded on a Will, is for adjudication by the competent Civil Court.

Tarachandra v. Bhawarlal, 2025 SCC OnLine SC 2902, explains that mutation on the basis of a Will need not be refused where legal heirs raise no dispute, and that any mutation remains subject to adjudication by a competent court.

The Court applied the principle in Jitendra Singh because the mutation was founded on a disputed Will and respondent No. 5 had already challenged the relevant rights and the Tahsildar’s order in a pending civil suit.

The circumstances therefore differed from Tarachandra, where no legal heir disputed the Will; here, the dispute required adjudication by the Civil Court.

The revenue authorities were justified in setting aside the mutation based on the disputed Will, and the Court found no ground to interfere.

It clarified that its observations were confined to the mutation proceedings and would not prejudice the parties’ rights or contentions in the pending civil suit, which must be decided independently and in accordance with law.