After peaceful enjoyment of land for multiple years, there is no cause of action: Bombay High Court
Title: Nana Narayan Bhalerao v. The State of Maharashtra and Ors.
Decided on: 26th JULY, 2023
WRIT PETITION (ST) NO. 8607 OF 2023
CORAM: G.S. KULKARNI & JITENDRA JAIN, JJ.
Facts of the Case
The petitioner owned 80R of land and due to the Nazare Project, his land was acquired by the Govt in1974. He was given 41R of land in Pune as an alternate. He realised it only later that he had not received a fair valuation for the land he lost.
In 2022, he filed an application before the District Resettlement Officer claiming 80R of land. Since he received no response, he moved to the HC.
Issues
Should the Petitioner get 80R of land even after 49 years of such allotment?
Decision
The Court referred to previous cases especially that of C. Jacob vs. Director of Geology & Mining & Anr., which had similar facts and the decision was that no cause of action arose under Art.226. Such claims were referred to as ‘Deadwood.’ In the present case, the Court reiterated the decision in Jacob’s case and said that the petitioner had enjoyed the land for 40 years without any issue and suddenly had filed for a claim. This according to the Bench was abuse of process. Since there was an unexplained delay in filing the suit, the suit is barred by principles of delay and laches.
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Written by- Aparna Gupta, University Law College & Dept. of Studies in Law