Government Auctioning a House It Does Not Own

Question

Question: Ms Mahfuz al-Nisa gifted her house to her grandson and granddaughter (her son’s children) in equal shares in 1935; a registered deed of gift exists. However, in 1951 the grandson went to Pakistan, because of which the half share went to the Custodian (the state custodian of evacuee property). In 1954 the Custodian enforced an order that it was the owner of the half share, but in 1959 the Custodian auctioned the entire house.

Answer

If, at the time the Custodian auctioned the entire house, Munshi I‘jaz Husayn bought at that auction, and then upon appeal the auction was cancelled — because auctioning the whole house was wrong: selling another’s property without the owner’s permission makes it a fuduli sale (a sale by an unauthorised party)

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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