Karnataka high court
The court was hearing a petition filed by BS Abhinandan Kumar challenging endorsements issued by the assistant commissioner, Bengaluru South, and the sub-divisional tahsildar, Tavarakere, rejecting his application for a genealogy certificate covering 11 family members. Because the descendants or other family members of a deceased person are residing in different places, bengaluru: Karnataka high court has ruled that revenue authorities cannot reject applications for genealogy, family tree or survivor certificates merely. Because some of his ancestors and family members had lived in different jurisdictions could not be a ground to reject his application, he argued that merely.
Justice MGS Kamal said the determining factor should be the place where the original ancestor had his or her permanent abode before death. Kumar told the court that his grandparents, parents, aunt and three unmarried sisters had died and that he had furnished their death certificates. If at least the persons claiming to be descendants or legal representatives of the deceased are residing within the jurisdiction of the revenue officer concerned, and a local enquiry does not reveal any objection or dispute, refusal to issue the certificate would be arbitrary, the court held. The tahsildar had rejected the application on the ground that Kumar had not furnished address proof of family members and death certificates of deceased relatives. He and one of his sisters were residing within the jurisdiction of the revenue authorities concerned, he submitted. Govt advocate, however, defended the rejection, contending that Kumar had failed to furnish address proof of family members residing within the jurisdiction. Rejecting this reasoning, Justice Kamal observed that genealogy, family tree and survivor certificates are issued based on information furnished by surviving legal heirs and are primarily intended to authenticate such information through local enquiry.