She suit was filed by the predecessor of the appellants herein Harbans Singh, son of Niranjan Singh, against his real brothers Mohan Singh (original defendant No. 1) and Sohan Singh (original defendant  No. 2) for a  declaration  that  he  was the  exclusive owner in respect of land. He asserted that there was a family settlement with the intervention of respectable persons and family members, whereunder his ownership and possession in respect of the suit land including the constructions thereon. It is stated that in the year 1970 after the purchase of suit land, some dispute arose between the brothers regarding the suit land and in a family settlement arrived at then, it was clearly understood that the plaintiff – Harbans Singh would be the owner of the suit property including constructions thereon and that the name of Mohan Singh (original defendant No. 1) and Sohan Singh (original defendant No. 2) respectively would continue to exist in the revenue record as owners to the extent of half share and the plaintiff would have no objection in that regard due to close relationship between the parties.  However, the defendants raised dispute claiming half share in respect of which Harbans Singh (plaintiff) was accepted and acknowledged to be the exclusive owner and as a result of which it was decided to prepare a memorandum of family settlement incorporating the terms already settled between the parties. The stated memorandum was executed by all parties on 10.3.1988. However, after execution of the memorandum of family settlement dated 10.3.1988, the defendants once again raised new issues to resile from the family arrangement. One of the issues raised was Whether there was any family settlement between the parties on 10.3.1988 and memo of family settlement was executed by parties on that day?

The Hon’ble Supreme Court held that that document dated 10.3.1988 executed between the parties was merely a memorandum of settlement, and it did not require registration. (CA No. 7764 of 2014 , 31 -07 2020 )