Oral family partition recognised without registration when proved by conduct and records, defeating ceiling computation

A pre-Act oral family arrangement and partition can be recognised without registration where the arrangement is proved by contemporaneous correspondence, possession, revenue receipts and later conduct, because such an arrangement records antecedent title and severance of joint status rather than operating as a conveyance. On that basis, the court held that the family division had been completed in substance before the Tamil Nadu Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1978 came into force, so the statutory restrictions on transfer of excess vacant land could not defeat it. The authorities were therefore bound to take the partition into account when computing excess vacant land.

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Issues: Whether a pre-Act oral family arrangement and partition, evidenced by correspondence and acted upon but not registered under Section 17(1)(b) of the Indian Registration Act, 1908, could be recognised while determining excess vacant land under the Tamil Nadu Urban Land (Ceiling and Regulation) Act, 1978.

Analysis: A family arrangement may be oral, and registration is required only when the arrangement is itself reduced into a document intended to create or declare title. Such an arrangement is not a conveyance but operates as recognition of antecedent title and a severance of joint status. The materials on record, including the source of funds, the correspondence between family members, the plan showing division, the delivery of possession, the kist receipts and the later conduct of the parties, established that the property was acquired and held for the benefit of the family nominees and that the arrangement had been acted upon before the Act came into force. The statutory restrictions on transfer of excess vacant land could not invalidate a bona fide pre-Act family partition already completed in substance.

Conclusion: The pre-Act family arrangement and partition were valid in law despite not being registered, and the authority could not ignore them while computing excess vacant land.

Final Conclusion: The impugned orders were unsustainable and stood quashed, with the petitioner obtaining full relief.

Ratio Decidendi: A pre-Act oral family arrangement, when proved by contemporaneous conduct and acted upon, is valid without registration and must be recognised as a severance of status rather than a conveyance, even in ceiling proceedings.

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