Husband can’t assert exclusive ownership over joint property because he paid EMIs: Delhi HC

The Delhi High Court ruled that a husband cannot claim exclusive ownership of a property jointly registered with his wife, even if he paid the EMIs, citing the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act. The case involves a Mumbai house dispute

New Delhi: A husband cannot assert exclusive ownership over a property jointly acquired and registered in the name of both spouses, solely on the basis that he paid the EMIs, the Delhi High Court has held.

A bench of justices Anil Kshetarpal and Harish Vaidyanathan Shankar made the observation on September 22.

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“Once the property stands in the joint names of the spouses, the husband cannot be permitted to claim exclusive ownership merely on the ground that he alone provided the purchase consideration,” the court said.

It said the husband’s claim would contravene Section 4 of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, which bars a person, claiming to be the real owner of the property, from instituting any suit, claim or action to enforce rights against any other person in whose name the property stands.

In her petition before the high court, the wife also claimed that 50 per cent of the surplus amount belonged to her, asserting that it formed part of her stridhan (a woman’s absolute and exclusive property as per Hindu Law) and, therefore, she had exclusive ownership over it.

According to the petition, the couple got married in 1999 and jointly purchased a house in 2005 in Mumbai. However, they began living separately in 2006, and the husband filed for divorce the same year, which is currently pending.