The Supreme Court has ruled that immovable property for which an ‘Agreement to Sell’ has been executed but not a final sale deed, remains the property of the deceased owner at the time of death and will be considered ‘matruka’ (estate) for the purpose of inheritance under Mohammedan Law. A bench of Justices Sanjay Karol and Prashant Kumar Mishra dismissed appeals challenging a Bombay High Court judgment, affirming that an agreement to sell does not confer any title or interest in the property.

The Court was hearing a property dispute between Zoharbee, the widow of the deceased Chand Khan, and Imam Khan, his brother. The central legal question was whether a plot of land that Chand Khan had agreed to sell during his lifetime, but for which the sale deed was executed after his death, could

See Full Page