Mangalore, Aug 26: The city civil court of Mangalore on Tuesday dismissed five applications filed by John Baptist Lewis seeking injunctions seeking restoration of building and claiming possession for a piece of land near St Aloysius College, where he was living.
In her 28-page order passed on Tuesday, the Principal Civil Judge, Mangalore Tattanda Damayanti Somayya dismissed the claim by John Baptist Lewis that he was the adopted son of Alice Lydia D'Souza, the original owner of the property and hence the legal heir of the property. The judge also dismissed the claim by Mr Lewis that he resided in the suit schedule premises from the last four decades.
It has to be noted here that Alice Lydia D'Souza had bequeathed this property through a registered Will in 1986 to Karnataka Jesuit Education Society, through St Aloysius College. However, she had also said in her will that her nephew Errol Flinn Gonsalves may be allowed to stay in the house situated in the property. The College had subsequently allowed Mr Gonsalves to reside in the same house. But, upon Mr Gonsalves' death in July 2013, one Mr John Baptist Lewis, posing as adopted son of Alice Lydia D'Souza began claiming legal ownership. He even dared to approach the court without possessing a single valid document to claim ownership to the property. The Court has taken a very serious cognizance of his fraudulent misdemeanour and squashed all his applications. The court even said that Mr Lewis had “no right to question the validity of the Will,” as he “is not a legal heir of Alice D'Souza”.
Before the Court two ration cards of John Baptist Lewis were produced. The Court held that one of the ration cards produced by John Baptist Lewis discloses that he was resident of C/o No. 15/26, Jayashree Nivas, Pathrao Lane, Karangalpady, Mangalore and that does not disclose the address of the suit property. Moreover, the BPL ration card of John Baptist Lewis discloses that he was the resident of Door no. 1-2-77, Dharmatota, Pavoor, Boliyar Village. So also the marriage certificate of John Baptist Lewis discloses that he was married on 13-5-1990, and is shown to be the resident of Fajir. And this itself goes on to show that he was not residing in the suit property.
The Court also held that in view of the Will executed by Alice Lydia D'Souza in favour of Karnataka Jesuit Education Society (KJES), its name is entered in the RTC extract. Even the revenue Inspector of City Corporation entered the name of KJES, which only means that by holding an enquiry, the name of KJES was entered in the revenue records. KJES “is in actual possession of the suit property,” the Court said.
The administration of St Aloysius College was elated with the order passed by the City Civil Court. “Indeed the Court has given us justice. There was so much of negative propaganda against us, as though we were land grabbers. We were only trying to claim what legally belonged to us for the sake of scores of children. The judgement vindicates our claim on the property bequeathed to us by Late Alice Lydia D'Souza,” said Fr Swebert D'Silva SJ, Principal of the College.
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