At the age of 60, I find myself being unceremoniously thrown out of the home that is the only shelter for my family and where I’ve stayed for over thirteen years now. I had invested a lifetime of earnings and savings into this home, often borrowing money for its improvement, hoping that it’d be my refuge in my twilight years. However, I am being dispossessed of this home without even a whiff of compensation or protection guaranteed to bonafide purchasers in the Section 51 of the Transfer of Property Act (TPA), 1882.

The litigation expenses in the highest courts of the country in the fruitless quest to save it have only pushed me deeper into the financial sinkhole. In the Hon’ble Delhi High Court and then in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, I went beyond my means and offered to repurchase the house in accordance with the provisions of the Section 51 of the TPA. However, I was not granted that opportunity. Even the very significant costs of improvements I made to the house over the years have not been granted to me in accordance with the provisions of that Section.

While I have the highest respect for the law of the land and am committed to following all court orders, this soul-crushing treatment meted out to me by the Hon’ble judiciary of the country has left me utterly disillusioned and has shaken my faith in the very notion of justice.

My humble prayers

The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has been hearing matters related to the liquidation proceedings of the ill-fated Golden Forests (India) Pvt. Ltd. for well over a decade now. The plight of the original investors, who had deposited their savings with the company hoping for unreasonably-high profits, has been adequately represented in the courtrooms over the years. However, one class of victims whose plight has gone apparantly unnoticed in the proceedings is bonafide third-party purchasers of properties owned at some point by the company and its countless subsidiaries. Even victims whose bonafides have not come under any cloud of doubt in the judicial proceedings are being dispossessed of their properties without the barest hint of compensation guaranteed in the Section 51 of the TPA. This treatment meted out to bonafide purchasers raises pressing questions of equity and natural justice.

While I was running from pillar to post to save my only home, the unscrupulous persons who sold me the property, and who seem to have been in collusion all this while, amassing riches unjustly at my expense, had the audacity to not attend even a single hearing—before the Hon’ble Committee, in the Hon’ble High Court, and in the Hon’ble Supreme Court—despite several notices and reminders, making a mockery of the judicial process.

Through this humble petition, I request Your Lordship to consider the following prayers:

1. That a distinction be made in matters connected with the Golden Forests case between bonafide purchasers and purchasers whose malafide intentions have been proven in the course of the judicial proceedings. Parameters, such as the following, laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India and the various Hon’ble High Courts in the course of judicial proceedings in this case may please be used to ascertain the bonafides of purchasers:

▪ any attempts over the years by the purchaser to illegally sell the property and unduly benefit from its possession
▪ the mode of payment for the transaction whereby the purchaser acquired possession of the property—cheque vs cash, etc
▪ whether any banks disbursed loans against the properties and whether those loans were disbursed after all due title checks
▪ the history of transactions before the purchaser acquired possession of the property
▪ the length of stay of the purchaser in the property, especially for residential properties
▪ whether the purchaser is a third-party purchaser or whether they benefited directly from the properties transferred by the company

2. That, while ascertaining the bonafides of a purchaser, the Hon’ble courts may please evaluate whether it was realistically possible for the purchaser to know about the disputed status of the property at the time of purchase. For example, in the case of my house:



Firstly, the subsidiary company—Thy Golden Globe Net (Pvt.) Ltd.—whose resolution was deemed invalid was brought under the purview of the proceedings related to the liquidation of Golden Forests by the Hon’ble Supreme Court only in 2006, four years after I purchased the property.



Secondly, when two nationalised banks, over a 12-year timeframe, could find no defects in my title to the property, I humbly ask if a layman like me could have known about the disputed legal status of the property through reasonable due diligence.



Thirdly, the registering authorities in Ambala were intimated by the Hon’ble Committee only in 2004 about the disputed status of Golden Forests properties. Even then, as late as 2013, the authorities seemed to have no information about the legal status of the house that I’m now being dispossessed of. Again, as a mere layman, I find it rather implausible that I could have known the relevant details about the disputed legal status of the house.

3. That, since the assets of the company far outweigh its liabilities, deserving cases, where dispossessing a bonafide third-party purchaser will cause immeasurable hardship, may please be viewed sympathetically by the Hon’ble courts.

4. That the Hon’ble courts take notice of the plight of innocent third-party bonafide purchasers in this case and grant them the protection of the Section 51 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882.

5. That, together with the original depositors in the company and its many subsidiaries, innocent third-party bonafide purchasers who’ve ended up in this vicious web be considered victims and be adequately compensated when the company’s assets are liquidated.

Additional background

I had bought this house in Ambala in January 2002 through a registered sale deed from one Sunita Sharma. A nationalised bank carried out all title checks with respect to the property and disbursed a home loan to me. Over the next twelve years, my family stayed peacefully in the house. Twice after the initial disbursement, in 2006 and 2013, another nationalised bank disbursed loans to help me renovate and improve the property. On all three occasions, lawyers on the panels of the nationalised banks issued non-encumbrance certificates after all valid checks, certifying that my title to the property was clear and undisputed.

On February 3 2014, I was crestfallen when I received a notice from Hon’ble Committee—Golden Forests (India) Pvt. Ltd. saying my title to the property was invalid. When I appeared before the Hon’ble Committee, I was told that the resolution through which Thy Golden Globe (Pvt.) Ltd.—apparently one of the many subsidiaries of the ill-fated Golden Forests (India) Ltd., whose assets the Committee was tasked to liquidate—had transferred the property to one Veena Bajaj, who had in turn sold the property to Sunita Sharma, was illegal and invalid. Therefore, the entire chain of titles following that resolution, including my sale deed, had been considered invalid.

In the months to follow, going well beyond my means, I fought the case before the Hon’ble Committee, in the Hon’ble Delhi High Court, and finally in the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, praying for my entitlements as a bonafide third-party purchaser guaranteed in the Section 51 of the Transfer of Property Act, 1882. However, I was repeatedly denied those entitlements for reasons that I still cannot fathom. Deepening my agony, the same entitlements have been granted in some other matters connected with the Golden Forests case.

Your Lordship may be pleased to go through the details of my case documented as part of the now-disposed-of Special Leave Petition number 31552/2014 (Jitendra Vashistha @ JK Sharma vs Golden Forests India Committee and Others) and its underlying Hon’ble Delhi High Court judgement.

Sincerely yours,

Dr Jitendra Vashishtha, PhD