Delhi court decides land dispute case after 66 years, says suit not maintainable

New Delhi: It took 66 years for a land dispute in the national capital to be decided. With the original parties long dead, a city court has now said the case is not maintainable in its present form.

Civil Judge Kapil Gupta was hearing a plea filed in 1959, in which plaintiff Mohan Lal asked the court for a decree of mandatory injunction against property developers for "interfering with his land" without his consent to build a colony.

The court said the suit was liable to be dismissed as the plaintiff was not in possession of the land in Delhi's Basai Darapur area and only sought relief of injunction.

Advocate Amit Kumar, representing the defendant, explained that the colony has already been built, making the prayer for restraining the developers infructuous.

The court noted in its order dated February 3, "It is submitted that defendants are engaged in the business of sale of urban plots of land and are holding out themselves as proprietor of colony namely Mansarovar Garden situated at Najafagarh Road."

The court noted that the plea claimed that Chhotey Lal and others -- the defendants -- had submitted a layout plan to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for sanction of the Mansarovar Garden Colony under the town planning scheme in 1957 and "included the suit property (land) belonging to the Mohan Lal without his consent".

It said the case is "not maintainable in its present form" as relief of possession has not been sought in the present suit, and only sought the relief of injunction.

The court dismissed the suit, saying the plaintiff failed to prove his case.

The defendant's counsel Amit Kumar said that the original suit was filed in 1959 against the property developers of Mansarovar Garden and the land in dispute measured 12 bighas (over 3 hectares).

"Credit must be given to the judge for taking the initiative to decide the case whose proceedings spanned around three generations," he said.

The advocate, however, said that the suit was far from over as the plaintiffs could file an appeal in the higher courts.