Lands claim payout

Question

My grandfather owned a piece of land. In the apartheid era, the land was misappropriated and he was given a paltry amount in lieu of the land. He was not willing to sell the land, nor did he consent to the sale of the property. The land’s claim court has now paid out the family as my grandfather is deceased. Does this amount follow the Shari’ee law of succession?

Mufti Mohammed Desai · Accepted Answer

In the queried scenario, you state that the deceased did not apply for any remuneration for his misappropriated land. This indicates that at no stage did he intend to transfer his property over to the apartheid government in lieu of a sum of money. The land was unjustly usurped from him and a paltry amount was given to him without any form of agreement or sale. This brings us to the conclusion that the land still remained in his ownership until his demise since a sale was not concluded with him.

Now that he has passed on, the heirs qualify as the rightful owners of the land. Hence, the payout should now be distributed amongst the heirs according to the Shari’ee law of succession, irrespective of whether heirs or non-heirs submitted a claim to the lands claim department.

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