Adverse possession – Ownership/title to property – Appellant, owner of land forming part of khasra No. 4833 – Suit for possession alleging that respondents had encroached the said land – Respondent’s case that they are in possession for the last 34 years; that they had become owners of the suit property by way of adverse possession and the suit property is not part of Khasra No. 4833 – Trial court decreed the suit for possession in favour of the appellants and the respondents ejected from the suit property – However, the lower appellate court set aside the order of the trial court on the ground that the appellants failed to prove their title to the property – High Court upheld the order of the lower appellate court – On appeal, held: On facts, the respondent failed to establish ownership by way of adverse possession – Title and ownership to the suit property established in favour of the appellants – Admissions and submissions by the respondent that property in dispute is part of Khasra No. 4833 – Appellants have been admitted to be owner of the property being Khasra No. 4833 – This finding has even been recorded in the impugned order passed by the High Court as also first appellate court – There is no challenge to the said finding by the respondents – Appellants have been non-suited on the ground that the respondents are not in possession of any part of khasra No. 4833 as the property in their possession is different – However, the findings recorded by the lower appellate court as well as the High Court are perverse if considered in the light of the material documents which are in the form of admission of respondents themselves regarding the identity of the property in their possession – As regards the plea of the respondents that they became owner of the property by way of adverse possession, the respondent lost on this ground in the earlier litigation – Still further the plea of the respondents about adverse possession pre-supposes ownership of the specific property of the appellants, which is claimed to be in possession of the respondents – Thus, order passed by the High Court are set aside.
As published in the Supreme Court Reports, Supreme Court of India. Text from the Indian Supreme Court Judgments open data set (Dattam Labs), CC BY 4.0.
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