In Brief
A dispute arose over a 3,500 sq.ft. plot in Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh. The plaintiff purchased the land through a registered sale deed from a Zamindar in 1966 and sought to construct on it in 1975, but the defendants objected. The plaintiff sued for injunction and possession. The trial court found the plaintiff was the owner; the district court decreed the suit for possession. However, the High Court dismissed the suit on the grounds of limitation, holding the defendants had perfected adverse possession rights from 1944. The Supreme Court allowed the appeal, holding that adverse possession could not accrue from 1944 when the defendants were mere tenants (whose possession is permissive), and that the suit, filed in 1975 within 12 years of the 1966 sale deed, was timely.
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