Heirs not residing in tahsildar’s jurisdiction can’t be ground to deny family tree: Karnataka High Court

In a ruling that could benefit hundreds of families struggling to obtain ‘survivor certificates’ across the State, the High Court of Karnataka has held that revenue authorities cannot reject an application for ‘surviving family members certificates’, commonly known as genealogy tree/family tree, merely because some members of the family reside outside the territorial jurisdiction of the tahsildar concerned.

Justice M.G.S. Kamal passed the order while setting aside the December 27, 2021, decision of sub-division tahsildar, Bengaluru south taluk, of rejecting the application filed by petitioner B.S. Abhinandan Kumar for issuance of the certificate. The application was rejected mainly because some of petitioner’s family members were not residing in the tahsildar’s jurisdiction.

The court quashed even the decision of the Assistant Commissioner, who had rejected the petitioner’s appeal, filed under provisions of the Karnataka Sakala Services Act, 2011, against the tahsildar’s decision.