In Brief
A member of a scheduled tribe in Madhya Pradesh sold agricultural land to a non-tribal person in 1964. Decades later, under Section 170B of the MP Land Revenue Code—enacted in 1980 to protect tribal land rights—the seller's son sought reversion of the land on grounds of fraud. The Collector allowed his plea, but the buyer challenged the order in a writ petition, which the High Court dismissed. The buyer then filed a civil suit seeking to overturn the same order. The Supreme Court held that once the High Court had affirmed the Collector's order, a civil court could not re-litigate the same question. The appeal was allowed, and the suit was dismissed."
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