www.thestatesman.net
Karan Shah in Kalimpong
Dec. 1. — Forty three years after they had left for Tibet in the wake of the Indo-Sino (1962) aggression, the family of Tashi Norbu and Thupden Rinzing are back, to claim their property. They however were shocked to find out most of their property has either been sold or occupied.
As per authentic property documents the above two, Tibetans, had purchased the site now known as the ‘Maa Villa’, at Primtam Road on 3 June, 1957 from its Chinese owner named Maa Yu Sun (the villa notably was named after him).
With the death of the of both Tashi and Thupden (brothers in relation) the property measuring approximately 94 decimals the burden of ownership fell over to Tashi’ s daughter and Thupden’ s wife, Siyang Tashi (56) and Chunga Doma (60), respectively.
Unfortunately mistaken as the Chinese, both fled away from Kalimpong leaving their property behind to Lhasa (Tibet) now under the regime of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), in the midst of the India-China war of 1962.
In the meantime the property was put under the concern of a Tibetan trust. Thirty-seven years later and on a short visit to Kalimpong on 2 August, 1999 they handed over the power of attorney (PoA) of their property to one of their neighbours, Sonam Tshering Bhutia. The two claim that the PoA was handed over to their neighbour with the sole-objective of care taking of the property, collecting house rents from their tenants as well as protecting it from encroachments.
On their return now, the two have alleged of being deceived by Sonam Tshering Bhutia.
Allegedly taking advantage of the PoA under him, Mr Bhutia has on 11 July 2001 under a gift deed transferred exactly 40 decimals to his wife, besides selling some portion of the area. In records now, the two now, own just about 18 ½ decimals, each. The exact location of the property in government records stands as J.L. No 56, Khatian No.—359 (Modified), Plot No—161 (DA Building) and Holding No. 51.
Besides demanding the total revoke of the PoA (which now stands as irrevocable), the two ladies have held Mr Bhutia guilty by falsely preparing the PoA documents. Nil in both spoken and written English and Nepalese, the only mode of interacting with the duo is via Tibetan. Interestingly the PoA however is prepared in English.
This is contradictory to the fact that both are Chinese citizens, bearing passport No-G09288703 and G09289599 receptively. The passport holds the two as residents of Lhasa City (Tibet Autonomous Region) under the PRC.
The duo submitted a formal complaint to the sub-divisional officer, today, against Mr Sonam Tshering Bhutia. We are Tibetans residing permanently in Tibet.
We had come to India for a religious visit, so we decided to drop down to Kalimpong to see our property. But to our surprise a number of concrete houses constructed on our land. The main house has been occupied by Mr Sonam Tshering Bhutia, whom we had appointed as the caretaker of our property. Besides having sold off a portion of our property without our knowledge, he has kept the money with himself, one of the claimants Chunga Doma (60) narrated in Tibetan with the help of an interpreter.
The case will be investigated as in accordance with official records. If found fault, a civil case is expected to follow, the SDO, Mr Shakeel Ahmed in turn said.
The accused Mr Sonam Tshering Bhutia accepted the fact that he had once been appointed as the caretaker of the villa. He however refused to identify the owners. “ If the actual owners are dissatisfied with my handling of the property they should discuss matters with me, first, Mr Bhutia said inviting the claimants to settle matters in the court. “ They can always file a case if they think I have cheated them , he said confidently.