In Brief
In 1953, a donor gifted 38 Bighas 8 Biswas of agricultural land to three donees, with a condition recorded in the mutation deed that if they refused to render services, the land would revert to the donor or his heirs. The donors' descendants sued in 1998 to recover the land, claiming the donees had stopped rendering services. The plaintiff's suit was decreed by trial and first appellate courts, but the High Court dismissed it on grounds of limitation. The Supreme Court upheld the High Court, holding that the alleged service condition could not bind perpetually on successors as that would constitute forced labour in violation of Article 23 of the Constitution. Services, if any, meant only past services to the original donor. After 45 years of undisputed possession with no specific evidence of breach, the plaintiffs had no case to seek resumption.
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