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Unregistered Family Settlement Will Operate As A Complete Estoppel Against The Parties To It

In CIVIL APPEAL NO. 784 OF 2010, Thulasidhara vs Narayanappa, the Supreme Court considering an appeal against a Karnataka High Court judgment which held that Exhibit D4 styled as Palupatti requires registration and the same could not be looked into, reversing the finding of both the courts below that it does not require any registration. The Trial court and the first appellate court had dismissed the suit on the basis of this document. Assailing the High Court judgment, the defendants contended before the Apex Court that, even if the family settlement was not registered, it would operate as a complete estoppel against the original plaintiff who was party to such family settlement. They relied on the judgment in Kale and Others v. Deputy Director of Consolidation and Others.

The Supreme Court observed that Exhibit D4 can be said to be a Palupatti, which means a list of properties partitioned. At the most, it can be said to be a family arrangement and the same was not required to be registered, the bench said. Referring to Subraya M.N. v. Vittala M.N., the bench said that even without registration a written document of family settlement/family arrangement can be used as corroborative evidence as explaining the arrangement made thereunder and conduct of the parties.


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