Your legal questions answered by Justice K Chandru, former Judge of the Madras High Court. Do you have a question? Email us atcitizen.dtnext@dt.co.in
Chennai:
One can write own will and get it registered
I want to make my will without involving any family member or our family lawyer. I want to make it and ensure that it cannot be challenged after I pass on. Please advise me on how I can get it attested from any external person or legal body. I don’t want my family members challenging it claiming I wasn’t of sound mind or health. Could you tell me how to go about it?
— Name withheld on request
You can write your own will and get it registered with your nearest sub-registrar office. All that you need is two witnesses who attest your signature. Even they need not know the contents of your will and the witnesses can be any adult person who is known to you. I have upheld a will executed by a spinster and it was attested by her auto driver. (see SV Ramakrishnan Vs. PR Sethuraman and others, [2009 (6) MLJ 464]. Please understand that merely because the will is a registered one, it will not be immune from challenge.
Without specific clause in bylaw, owners can’t insist on food preference while letting out flats
I had taken a flat on rent and I have been living here for 1.5 years. When moving in, I was asked if I am a vegetarian (which I am) and there was no problem. I recently got married to a colleague and she is Bengali. When she started cooking fish in the flat, my neighbour raised an objection. Now every time she cooks non-veg, they come to the door and question us. We don’t have a residents' welfare association as there are only 12 flats. Do my neighbours have the right to stop us from cooking non-veg food in the flat? How do I put an end to this harassment? I don’t want to move as I like the flat and the location and the rent is also affordable. Please help. — Kumar, CIT Colony
Unless the bylaws of the association of flat owners are registered, and if it contains a clause insisting the exclusive vegan status of inmates, no individual flat owner can impose the preference for food as a condition for letting out the house. However, unfortunately, the Supreme Court in Zoroastrian Cooperative Housing Society Limited Vs. District Registrar, Cooperative Societies (Urban) and others, reported in 2005 (5) SCC 632, has upheld the validity of such bylaws for residential societies and held that the bylaws agreed to by the members are superior and cannot be challenged. It also observed that a stream cannot be higher than the source. That judgment deserves reconsideration.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed here are of Justice K Chandru, who is providing guidance and direction based on his rich experience and knowledge of the law. This is not a substitute for legal recourse which must be taken as a follow-up if so recommended in these columns
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