KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has held that taking into account the requirement for legal heirship certificates being insisted upon by various authorities, it is high time that the state considered enacting a provision of law or framing rules for the issuance of such certificates.
The HC also quashed an order of a village officer rejecting an application for a legal heirship certificate on the ground that the deceased had been residing abroad for a long period and consequently, there was a practical difficulty in identifying legal heirs of such a person.
Justice Bechu Kurian Thomas issued the order on a petition filed by Baby Kurian of Kottayam, who is now residing in California, challenging the order of the Kottayam taluk tahsildar.
Baby and his family are Overseas Citizens of India. Following his wife’s death in 2018 while in the US, the petitioner applied to the tahsildar for the issuance of a legal heirship certificate. However, the application was rejected on the grounds that there was a practical difficulty in enquiring into the legal heirs of the deceased, as she had been residing abroad for several years and that her burial had been conducted abroad.
The court noted that there is no codified law dealing with applications for the issuance of legal heirship certificates.
With no statutory prescription regarding the issuance of a legal heirship certificate, the only procedure that can be identified for such a certificate is the procedure prescribed under the Kerala Village Manual. However, the court noted that the village manual is neither a law nor a rule having statutory backing or force.
The HC further declared that until appropriate rules are framed by the state, tahsildars shall be entitled to issue legal heirship certificates under paragraph 236 of the Kerala Village Manual, irrespective of the value of the property involved.