In Brief
The Supreme Court examined whether Madhya Pradesh's 1976 agricultural protection statute applied to a land sale deed executed in 1953—23 years before the statute came into force. The High Court had dismissed the appellants' claim for lacking proof of eligibility, but the Court found the High Court had failed to address threshold questions: whether the statute applied retroactively and whether the loan securing the transaction was still active when the statute took effect. The Court set aside the High Court's order and remitted the case for fresh consideration with proper examination of these foundational legal issues.
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