Chennai exposes heir certificate fraud in Madras HC

Justice S Vaidyanathan, while hearing an appeal pertaining to a settlement deed, was informed that in the said Legal Heir Certificate issued in 1990, the residential address of the late R Kandasamy Gramini is mentioned as Chennai, instead of Madras Also, the seal of the Tahsildar, Mylapore-Triplicane Taluk, indicates Chennai, though the Letter Head of the Legal Heir Certificate indicates the Revenue limit as Taluk Office, Mylapore-Triplicane, Madras 600028.

Following this, the judge on observing that the said Legal Certificate appears to be a forged and fabricated one directed the special Government Pleader, to enquire on the genuineness of the alleged Legal Heir Certificate wherein nine legal heirs enlisted were reportedly not the true legal heirs of the late Kandasamy. In response, the Tahsildar, Mylapore Taluk, confirmed that the Legal Heir Certificate is not genuine.

Based on this, Justice Vaidyanathan held, “The conduct of the appellant in relying upon a forged and fabricated Legal Heir Certificate to prove his claim is reprehensible. As he has approached this court with unclean hands, this court is not inclined to permit him to withdraw this appeal.”

“Moreover, the fabricated Legal Heir Certificate will have a bearing on all the litigations connected to the case on hand, pending before various forums,” the judge said, while dismissing the appeal.

Also, directing the Tahsildar to declare the forged document null and void, the judge said, “If the legal heirs enlisted in the forged Legal Heir Certificate or the person who sought issuance of such Legal Heir Certificate are alive, criminal action shall be taken against them, so that the issue is brought to a logical end. The Criminal Court shall impose imprisonment and not let them get away just with a fine. This is to signal all the fraudsters that the law is strict and imprisonment is the only way to punish them for their fraudulent act.”

The court also directed departmental and criminal action against those responsible for issuance of the fraudulent Legal Heir Certificate.