Doctrine of Escheat writeup PDF

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Doctrine of escheat note. Remember it is only made for a note, just for study purposes...

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Doctrine of Escheat is also called as Bona Vacantia. Doctrine of Escheat is a common law doctrine which transfers the property of a person who dies without heirs to the Crown or the State. It serves to ensure that property is not left in 'Limbo' without recognized ownership. The right to acquire by way of Escheat or as Bona Vacantia is not a nature of any private law of sucession but is an attribute of sovereignty. It is well settled that escheat is an incident of sovereignty pursuant to which property vesting in the Government in the absence of an heir or successor of the owner of the property. A claim of escheat has to be proved rigorously and the onus lies heavily upon the person who claims escheat.

Definition of escheat Black’s Law Dictionary defines ‘escheat’ as: 1. The reversion of land ownership back to the lord when the immediate tenant dies without heirs. 2. Reversion of property (especially real property) to the state upon the death of an owner who has neither a will nor any legal heirs. 3. Property that has so reverted. Thus we see that Doctrine of Escheat is a common law doctrine which transfers the property of a person who dies without heirs to the crown or the state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in ‘limbo’ without recognized ownership.

Doctrine of Escheat or bona vacantia in India The Doctrine of bona vacantia or Escheat was declared to be a part of the law in India by the Privy Council as early as in 1860

in Collector of Masulipatam v. Cavary Vancata Narrainappah, (1859-61) 8 Moo Ind App 500 at PP. 525. This case also held that the General Law of universal application and that General Law was that “private ownership not existing, the State must be the owner as the ultimate Lord”. Article 296 of the Constitution of India provides that any property in the territory of India which would have accrued to the ruler of an independent State by escheat or lapse or as bona vacantia for want of a rightful owner shall if it is the property situate in a State, vest in such State, and in any other case in the Union of India. The right to acquire by way of escheat or as bona vacantia is not a creature of any Private Law of Succession but is an attribute of Sovereignty. It is true that Statutory provisions of Private Law of Succession such as Section 29 of Hindu Succession Act sometimes expressly recognise right of the State to acquire properties by escheat or as bona vacantia. But that right would have been very much there even without any such provisions[2].

Biswanath Khan And Ors. v. Prafulla Kumar Khan, AIR 1988 Calcutta 275 The right to acquire by way of escheat or as bona vacantia is not a creature of any Private Law of Succession but is an attribute of Sovereignty. It is true that Statutory provisions of Private Law of Succession such as Section 29 of Hindu Succession Act sometimes expressly recognise right of the State to acquire properties by escheat or as bona vacantia. But that right would have been very much there even without any such provisions. The interest of a Tenant is usually heritable as well as transferable and it would be trite to say that only owner of a property, however limited, can transfer or transmit the same.

Narendra Bahadur Tandon v. Shanker Lal, AIR 1980 SC 575 In India the law is well-settled that the property of an intestate dying without leaving lawful heirs, and the property of a dissolved Corporation, passes to the Government by escheat or as bona vacantia” and that “if the Company had a subsisting interest in the lease on the date of dissolution, such interest much

necessarily vest in the Government by escheat or as bona vacantia.” It is not only the tangible property that comes within the ambit of Doctrine of Escheat or bona vacantia. The word ‘property’, when used without any qualification or limitation, as above, is a term of the widest import.

State of Bihar & Ors. v. Sri Radha Krishna Singh & Ors. AIR 1983 SC 684 The Supreme Court has observed thus: “It is well settled that when a claim of escheat is put forward by the Government the onus lies heavily on the appellant to prove the absence of any heir of the respondent anywhere in the world. Normally, the court frowns on the estate being taken by escheat unless the essential conditions for escheat are fully and completely satisfied. Further, before the plea of escheat can be entertained, there must be a public notice given by the Government so that if there is any claimant anywhere in the country or for that matter in the world, he may come forward to contest the claim of the State.”

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https://caselaw.in/today/doctrine-of-escheat-orbona-vacantia/1498/ http://www.desikanoon.co.in/ https://www.lawweb.in/2018/05/basic-conceptof-escheat-under-hindu.html

 Constitution of India, Article 296...