Deepa Jayakumar’s visit to Poes Garden evokes debate among jurists

CHENNAI: While there is no quarrel about Deepa Jayakumar’s legal status as Jayalalithaa’s Class-2 legal heir, whether or not her visit to her aunt’s most famous address at Poes Garden on Sunday was trespass, has evoked a debate among jurists.
In the Hindu Succession Act, Sections 9 and 11 talk about legal heirs and at what ratio they share the assets. Since Jayalalithaa has no immediate family and she is believed to have died without leaving behind a will, Class-2 heirs including Deepa and Deepak will be the claimants to her legacy.
“At 11.30pm on December 5, 2016, when Jayalalithaa was declared dead, her niece Deepa Jayakumar became co-owner of assets belonging to her aunt. Anyone else occupying assets belonging to Jayalalithaa would lose their right to continue to occupy the property as they are merely permissive occupants allowed by Jayalalithaa. Upon her death, if Jayalalithaa’s legal heir says she terminates the occupant’s licence to occupy, then the latter must vacate unless they establish a better right,” said veteran civil law expert V Raghavachari.
Since Deepa visited the premises where she is the co-owner, it would not amount to trespass. Police could not entertain any complaint to that effect because it is civil dispute. “At best, they should help Deepa take control of the property,” said V Laxminarayanan.
Former additional solicitor-general of India and senior counsel P Wilson, however, says Deepa’s entry could be trespass, unless she shows that she went there on invitation. “She says her brother invited her to the premises. Once the original owner dies, the person occupying the property due to her leave and licence lose their right to continue. However, the legal heir must resort to due process of law to evict the occupants, instead of taking law into their own hands,” he said. She can assert her right over the property, but cannot barge into it.
“Take for instance, a servant lives with an owner, whose son or daughter lives abroad. If the owner dies, can the servant deny entry for the son/daughter, on the ground that it was he who is in possession of the property?” asks Raghavachari. “In strict legal sense, Deepa’s visit to Poes Garden is not trespass,” he adds.
What are, then, options before Deepa? If it is established that the present occupants had the consent of a class-2 heir of Jayalalithaa, who could be other than both Deepa and Deepak, then legal heirs must file partition suits to get an equal share. Deepa could move a civil court seeking injunction and to exclude everyone else from occupying the property.
In case the state invokes its inherent powers, resorts to compulsory acquisition of Jayalalithaa’s property and makes them a memorial, then Class-2 legal heirs of the former chief minister would be entitled to equal share in the monetary compensation. “The state would not require to get the consent of legal heirs, as right of ownership over property is not absolute,” said Wilson.