Adjacent Property on Same Survey Number — Can a Bank Mortgage Your Land If Your Relative Defaults?

Rohan Shenoy owned a piece of agricultural land in Dharwad district, Karnataka, adjoining his maternal uncle's plot. Both properties fell under the same survey number in the revenue records, though Rohan held a distinct mutation entry, a registered sale deed that specifically identified his share, and separate possession of a ground-plus-one structure on his portion. The buildings were physically attached — a common wall ran along the boundary — but there was never any legal amalgamation of the two holdings.

In early March 2024, Rohan learned that his uncle, Prakash Hegde, had applied for a term loan from Canara Bank's Dharwad branch and proposed to mortgage the broader survey number as security. The bank's valuer visited the site and, as Rohan had feared, drew the valuation sketch to include the entire composite footprint, without distinguishing his separately held portion. Prakash gave only verbal assurances that Rohan's land would be excluded. That was plainly not enough.

Rohan first approached a local lawyer, who sent a general letter to the bank. The bank's branch acknowledged it and did nothing further. Concerned that a mortgage could be registered before he secured any protective order, Rohan approached Advocate Sudhir Rao. A careful review of the sale deed, the RTC (Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops), and the mutation register established that Rohan's portion was legally distinct. A declaratory suit was filed before the Civil Judge, Dharwad, along with an application for a temporary injunction under Order 39 Rule 1 and Rule 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, restraining the bank from registering any mortgage that encumbered Rohan's identifiable share. The court granted an ad-interim injunction within ten days. The bank subsequently issued its loan against only Prakash's demarcated portion. Rohan's title was protected.

You can read about this case in detail at https://sudhirrao.com/adjacent-property-same-survey-number-bank-mortgage-risk-rela/