- US court ordered resident to remove property encroachment.
- Ruling favored Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson’s charitable trust.
- Trust successfully fought resident’s adverse possession claim.
- AI, GIS maps aided trust’s legal battle successfully.
A US court has ruled in favour of a charitable trust established by Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson Kanu Gandhi and his wife Shiva Gandhi, directing a Virginia resident to remove his encroachment from their 30-acre property following a 20-month legal battle led by the trust’s managing trustee, Parimal Desai, from Surat.
The dispute concerned land adjoining Shenandoah National Park in Warren County, Virginia, which Kanu and Shiva Gandhi purchased in 1987. The court’s order, dated October 21, was passed by Judge Daryl L. Funk of the Warren County Circuit Court in favour of Desai and the charitable trust. It also directed the resident, Gregory Black, to pay $11,375 towards the fees of the Guardian ad Litem representing unknown heirs.
How The Land Dispute Began
Speaking to The Times of India, Desai said the dispute began on January 10, 2025, when Black sent a legal notice to his residence, claiming ownership of the property under Virginia’s adverse possession law.
The law allows a person to claim ownership of land after 15 years of possession, provided five conditions are fulfilled. Desai said Black failed to establish two of these requirements: exclusive and actual possession, and a hostile claim to the property.
Black claimed that he had occupied the land since 2008. During the court proceedings, he cited trails, a cabin, tree stands, a culvert and other improvements on the property, along with photographs, to support his claim.
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How The Gandhi Family’s Property Passed To The Trust
Kanu Gandhi and his wife Shiva returned to India in 2013 and spent their final years in South Gujarat. Kanu died in Surat in November 2016, and under his will, his assets passed to Shiva.
In 2018, Shiva established the Dr Schiva and Kanu Ramdas Mohandas Gandhi Charitable Trust and registered her will. Following her death in 2020, the will was executed and Desai took charge as the trust’s managing trustee. The trust inherited her properties and financial assets to support its charitable activities.
Desai said he first visited the Virginia property in 2024 and commissioned a survey that cost $4,500. He also got Shiva’s will probated in a US court in 2025 and secured the transfer of the land title into the trust’s name.
“As I learnt about the land in Virginia, I went to the property in 2024 and got the survey done. If the trust wanted to do anything with land, it had to be in its possession. I got the will probated in a US court in 2025 and got the land title in the trust’s name,” he told TOI.
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AI, GIS Maps Help Trust Contest Ownership Claim
Desai said he hired lawyers in the US while coordinating the legal fight from India. He also used artificial intelligence (AI) to identify ways to challenge Black’s claim.
The final trial was held from September 8 to 11. Desai told the court about Kanu Gandhi’s connection to Mahatma Gandhi and said the couple had transferred their properties to the trust, whose objective was to propagate Gandhian philosophy.
The trust relied on geographical information system (GIS) maps to challenge Black’s evidence about the structures on the land. Desai said the maps helped establish that the cabin had not been there for 15 years.
He also told the court that he had visited the property several times since 2020, which, according to him, contradicted Black’s claim of actual possession. The trust further found another woman residing on the land, challenging Black’s assertion that he had exclusive possession.
The court ultimately ruled in favour of Desai and the trust in its October 21 order, directing Black to remove his encroachment from the property.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: abplive.com
