Telangana HC Rules Family Liable For Deceased Postmaster's Rs 15.71 Lakh Debt

The Telangana High Court in Hyderabad has ruled that the widow and children of a deceased person are legally obligated to pay back his debts, clearing the way for the government to auction ancestral land in Jalalpur village, Nagireddypet mandal, Kamareddy district. In a recent order, Justice Laxmi Narayana A dismissed a petition challenging the attachment and proposed auction of the family's agricultural land to recover Rs 15.71 lakh.

The case involved the family of a deceased postmaster who allegedly misappropriated Rs 15.71 lakh while serving under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Following his death in 2010, his widow and their two sons inherited approximately two acres of ancestral agricultural land in Jalalpur village.

To recover the misappropriated funds, revenue authorities initiated recovery proceedings under the Revenue Recovery Act, targeting the family's ancestral land. The postmaster's widow filed petitions challenging the attachment and proposed auction of the property.

The petitioner argued that her husband had inherited the agricultural land from his ancestors, meaning only his individual share in the property could be proceeded against. She contended that the undivided shares of the other legal heirs should remain untouched. Furthermore, she maintained that she had no knowledge of the alleged misappropriation and stated that the family possessed no other property.

However, Justice Laxmi Narayana A rejected these arguments. The court held that legal heirs cannot escape the statutory obligation of satisfying debts contracted by the deceased merely by claiming the property in question is ancestral.

The court ruled that shares of the property owned by the family can be used to settle the debt. Consequently, the High Court found the recovery proceedings initiated by the revenue authorities to be legally sustainable, allowing the proposed auction of the land to go forward.