“My Grandfather was one of four brothers all of whom are now deceased. My dispute is with the sons of one of the brothers. Some agricultural land was jointly owned by my grandfather and his brothers, many years ago. We only realised recently when we proceeded to sell our share in this land that one of my grandfather’s brothers had registered the bulk of the family land in his own name in the mid 70s without the knowledge or consent of any other members. We had all agreed to sell the land and divide the proceeds four ways until my Uncles discovered that the majority of the land is in their name. They are now demanding a majority of the proceeds to which I am disagreeing. Is there anything that I can do to ensure that the proceeds are shared equally?” This is not a story but a reality.
People avoid legal transfer of properties between blood relations due to registration fee and stamp fee which leads to later day disputes in the family. To solve this issue the Punjab government has recently waived off total registration fee charged for transfer of property between spouses and blood relations in urban and rural areas with immediate effect thereby giving a big relief to thousands of such beneficiaries.
In a special gesture to encourage families to legally transfer property between blood relations and spouses including son, daughter, father, mother, brother, sister, grandson and granddaughter, the Punjab government has also decided to waive off social security fund, social infrastructure cess and stamp duty on such transfers. A notification to this effect was issued on November 5, 2015.
Punjab Revenue Minister Mr. Bikram Singh Majithia describes this decision in line with the government’s desire to encourage people to go in for legal registration of property rather than adopting ultra virus measures which only increase intra family disputes. He gives whole credit to Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal for guiding the ministry to take this decision in people interest.
Mr. Majithia furher added, “I am happy that this zero fee transfer of property has been approved by special efforts of Chief Minister, who took care to follow up this issue at every level clearing all legal hurdles leading to its fructification.”
It may be added that Punjab Revenue Minister had been working from last three years to simplify the revenue acts, reduce legal disputes besides encouraging people to adopt legal rather that extra constitutional means to give closure to family transfers.
Government of Punjab 