Sounding a reality check of sorts, a city court has held that a man who helps his father in the latter’s business, has a legal status of merely a “servant” and hence cannot claim rights on the enterprise or property.

Deciding a case filed by a man against his father for securing equal rights in property and business, the court said unless he could prove that it was an ancestral or a joint property and that he was a coparcener (shareholder in the ancestral property by virtue of birth), there was no relief available for him legally.

In October 1998, Basant Chopra had filed a civil suit against father R L Chopra.

The father-son duo worked at a shop in Rajinder Nagar Market, it said. They lived in a house inherited from Basant’s grandfather. But after some differences, the father put a lock on the shop and issued a public notice in newspapers severing all relations with Basant.

As per Basant’s suit, R L Chopra had also filed a complaint with the police and Basant was compelled to hand over the possession of a car that he had bought.

He had requested the court to declare that he was also an owner of the property and the business. He demanded his car back and asked for compensation for being wrongfully deprived of his rights.

Countering the contentions, Chopra senior told the court that his father had bequeathed everything to him through a will and hence there was no question of Basant having the right of inheritance.

... contd.