Woman's Right To Property Can't Be Relinquished Based On Affidavit: Court

The court allowed a plea of a woman from Bhavnagar district, challenging the decision of the district authorities to accept a consent affidavit giving up her rights in the property while refusing to include her name in the revenue records of the land.

The Gujarat High Court has said that a woman's right to a share in her father's property cannot be relinquished on the basis of a mere consent affidavit signed by her waiving her rights. The court of Justice AY Kogje allowed a plea of a woman from Bhavnagar district, challenging the decision of the district authorities to accept a consent affidavit giving up her rights in the property while refusing to include her name in the revenue records of the land. Petitioner Roshan Deraiya and her sister Hasina had signed a consent affidavit before their father Haji Deraiya died in October 2010, giving up their share of land in favour of their three brothers, on the basis of which their names were excluded from the revenue records. When the land was transferred in the name of the petitioner's brothers after their father's death, she approached the deputy collector questioning the exclusion of her name on the basis of the consent affidavit that she had signed when her father was alive.