Can Siblings Sell Ancestral Farmland to Strangers Without Your Consent? (Section 22 HSA)

Protecting Undivided Family Farmland from Stranger Incursions

One of the most contentious battlegrounds in UP property litigation involves a sibling or co-heir selling their undivided share in ancestral agricultural land to a third-party stranger without offering it first to family members. This triggers prolonged partition suits, boundary disputes, and law-and-order confrontations.

1. The Preferential Right of Pre-Emption (Section 22 HSA 1956)

Under Section 22 of the Hindu Succession Act, when an undivided interest in any immovable property devolves upon two or more heirs specified in Class I of the Schedule, and any one heir proposes to transfer his share, the other co-heirs have a preferential right to acquire that share at court-determined valuation.

2. Immediate Legal Remedies to Block Illegal Sales

1. Suit for Permanent Injunction & Restraint: Filing an Order 39 Rule 1 & 2 CPC application before the Civil Judge Senior Division to restrain execution of the Sale Deed before the Sub-Registrar.
2. Revenue Court Partition Suit (Section 116 UP Revenue Code 2006): Filing for formal Kurra-Bandi (boundary demarcation and separate Khata creation) before the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM).
3. Caveat Petition at Sub-Registrar Office: Filing an official objection with the Sub-Registrar (Sadarpur / Tehsil Ghaziabad) putting prospective buyers on legal notice.

3. Litigation Support at Ghaziabad District Court

Advocate Vishu Kushwaha represents coparceners and property owners in partition suits, declaration of title, and stay injunctions before Ghaziabad Civil Courts, Revenue Tehsildar Courts, and the High Court.