SOURCE :- SIASAT NEWS
Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court has ruled that if a person dies without repaying a lawful debt, his legal heirs (wife or children) must repay it only from the property they inherit from him.
The court clarified that the government or creditors can recover the dues from the deceased person’s inherited property, including ancestral or joint family property inherited by the heirs. However, the heirs’ own property or assets earned through their own income cannot be attached.
Justice Alishetty Laxmi Narayana passed the order while hearing petitions filed by V Yashoda, the wife of late postmaster Srinivas Reddy from Kamareddy district.
According to the case, Srinivas Reddy was accused of misappropriating Rs 14.89 lakh under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). A criminal case was registered against him. After his death, the district administration began proceedings to recover the money by attaching and auctioning the family’s ancestral agricultural land.
Yashoda argued that the authorities could recover the money only from her late husband’s share in the ancestral property and not from the shares inherited by her and their two sons.
The High Court rejected her plea, saying that legal heirs cannot avoid repaying a deceased person’s lawful debts if they have inherited his property.
At the same time, the court made it clear that only the inherited property can be used to recover the debt. The heirs’ self-acquired property cannot be seized.
SOURCE : SIASAT
