A person living abroad for more than 182 days is termed as a Non Resident India. There is vast spread of NRI’s across the globe who have either permanently or temporarily shifted their base to other countries for multifarious reasons. Most of these NRI’s have either inherited properties or purchased lands/houses to keep themselves connected to their roots in the country. When they leave from India, the properties are handed over to tenants, care takers, relatives or trustworthy friends for ensuring the upkeep or maintenance or safeguarded from third parties. There are times when the closest and the most trusted people illegally transfer or take over the property and deny the right to the rightful owner of the property.
The land dispute is the one of the major problem NRIs face difficulty in getting back the possession of their land because of the lengthy legal process. The fake owners of the NRI property take the possession and later file a case on property and these cases drags for years and years.For the possession of the disputed property, an NRI has to produces a document to prove that the property is in his name.
What happens then to the NRI and his legal right? Left with no option, the most appropriate option seems to approach the courts or competent authorities to seek what rightfully belongs to him. The concern of resorting to these remedies is the time that it takes for the right decision. Travelling back and forth for each date of hearing or ensuring that the NRI is heard and the advantage of his absence in India is not taken are the other concerns of this litigant who lives far away and is looking for desperate measures.
According to the survey conducted earlier by the state Government, it was get to know that there were at least 3,000 cases are pending in courts involving NRIs property related disputes.The revenue cases concerning to the land owed by NRIs lying pending in various courts and that needs to be transferred to one such court.In the tenant-owner disputes, however the amended law has provided for a speedy trial and immediate possession of the property but the cases are delayed because the lower courts are overburdened. The government has made efforts to take up cases of NRIs in the fast Track Courts, as in Punjab, where property cases filed by NRIs are the highest in the country. The state government has now set up fast track courts for speedy settlement of these cases involving NRIs (non-resident Indians) and also amended the property laws to protect the rights and interests.The Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act and the Punjab Rent Act also protect NRIs from land encroachment and protracted litigations. Punjab is the first state who has state set up a separate department for NRIs. The Punjab Security of Land Tenures Act is allowed an NRI to get back their agricultural land from tenants. Similarly The Rent Act also gives NRIs the right to recover their possession of a non-residential building or a residential building from tenants. The state government has setup a fast track courts at Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahar and Moga to expedite the disposal of revenue cases relating to NRI’s(non-resident Indians).Every district in Punjab the state government has set up a revenue court, NRI police station for NRIs and also has strengthened district NRI cells. The court case of an NRI should bear a special flag of a distinctive colour carrying the printed word “COURT CASE OF NRI” for its differentiation.
The state governments are making constant efforts to support and assist the Non Resident Indians to protect their rights in India. The litigant must also have strong representation in the courts in India to ensure that the case he is fighting for is correctly filed and followed up in the courts. The evidence in case is handled properly.