TMI Blog2011 (9) TMI 1098X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... superstructure is in existence for last over 15 years; that he has been residing in the suit premises and is paying property tax since 1968-69; that the suit land has not been acquired; that the officials of the Corporation and the DDA came to the suit premises along with the Tahsildar on 10.8.1990 without serving any notice and threatened to demolish the superstructure on the ground that the same is unauthorized. According to appellant No.2, when he questioned the jurisdiction of the Corporation and the DDA to take action for demolition of the structures, the officials went away with the threat that they will come again with the police force and demolish the same. HELD THAT:- the appeal is dismissed by Apex court and approve the findings and conclusions recorded by the trial Court. On a comprehensive analysis of the pleadings and evidence of the parties, the trial Court held that the plaintiffs (appellants herein) have succeeded in showing that appellant No.2 and his brothers had purchased land comprised in khasra Nos. 2728/1674/2 and 2728/1674/3, but they could not prove that the land on which appellant No.1 was running `Sahara Restaurant' is a part of those khasra number ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} table.MsoTableGrid {mso-style-name:"Table Grid"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-priority:59; border:solid windowtext ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... pment Authority have been agreed upon between the Central Government and the Authority. Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of Section 22 of the Delhi Development Act, 1957 (61 of 1957), the Central Government hereby places with immediate effect, the lands which had vested in the Central Government on the urbanization of the villages specified in the said Schedule at the disposal of the Delhi Development Authority for the purpose of development and maintenance of the said lands as green and for taking such steps as may be required to serve the said purpose, subject to the condition that the Delhi Development Authority shall not make, or cause, or permit to be made any constructions on the said lands and shall when required by the Central Government so to do, replace the said lands or any portion thereof as may be so required, at the disposal of the Central Government. SCHEDULE Sr.No. Na me of the Village 17. Mehrauli (Kishangarh) (F.No.13021/370-II) S. CHAUDHARY Jt. Secy. 4. Appellant No.2-Lal Chand and his three brothers, namely, S/Shri Ran ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Garh, Mehrauli New Delhi more particularly shown red in the plan annexed to the plaint. 6. In the written statement filed on behalf of the DDA, it was averred that the suit land belonged to Gaon Sabha and with the urbanization of rural areas of Kishangarh, the same automatically vested in the Central Government. It was further averred that vide notification dated 20.8.1974, the Central Government had transferred the suit land to the DDA and the plaintiff has no right, title or interest in the same. The relevant portions of the written statement are extracted below: PRELIMINARY OBJECTIONS: 1. That the suit as filed is false, frivolous and not maintainable. The plaintiff has no legal right to file the present suit. The land forms a part of Khasra No.1674 of Village- Mehrauli. This land belong to the Gram Sabha and on the urbanization of Village-Mehrauli, all the Gram Sabha land vested in the Central Govt. and the Central Govt., later transferred this land at the disposal of the defendant-D.D.A. vide notification No.S.O. 2190 dated 20.8.1974. Therefore, it is clear that the plaintiff has no right, title or interest in the property. In this view of the matter, this suit m ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... further submitted that as the land does not belong to the plaintiff, he is not entitled to be given any compensation whatsoever. 7. On 20.8.1990, the High Court granted interim injunction, which was confirmed vide order dated 14.7.1998. Thereafter, the suit was transferred to District Judge, Delhi, who assigned the same to Civil Judge, Delhi for disposal. After considering the pleadings of the parties, the Civil Judge framed the following issues: 1. Whether the plaintiff is co-owner of H.No.80, Kishangarh, Mehrauli (part of Kh. No. 1674) as alleged in para 1 of the plaint? OPP. 2. Whether the plaintiff is in occupation of the suit premises for the last 15 years as alleged? OPP. 3. Whether the plaintiff has any legal right to file the present suit? OPP. 4. Whether the suit is barred under Sections 477/478 of the DMC Act? OPD. 5. Whether the suit is bad for mis-joinder of parties? OPD. 6. Whether this Court has jurisdiction to entertain and try the present suit? OPD. 7. Whether the plaintiff is entitled for the relief claimed? OPP. 8. Relief. 8. Appellant No.2 did not appear in the witness box. Instead, one of his sons, namely, Vinod Kumar Khatri gav ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mkin abadi does not make much difference as the main controversy is regarding the ownership that the land belongs to the gaon sabha and as such plaintiff has failed to prove his right, title over the same. There is also a judgment of the Hon'ble High Court in Rajender Kakkar v. DDA CW No. 3355/93 it is also for the village Kishan Garh in the revenue estate of Mehrauli in that judgment also the Hon'ble High Court has held that whole of vill. Kishan Garh was urbanized and after urbanization as per sec. 150 of DLR Act the land whole of gaon sabha ceases to be the rural area and the land belongs to gaon sabha in vill. Kishan Garh vested with the Central Govt. and the Central govt. vide notification dt. 20.8.74 placed same at the disposal of DDA. In this authoritative pronouncement also the Hon'ble High Court held that petitioners have no right title over the land and it was further held that : `Time has now come where the society and the law abiding citizens are being held to ransom by persons who have no respect of law. The wheels of justice grind slowly and the violators of law are seeking to the advantage of the laws delays. That is why they insist on the letter of th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... he Division Bench of the High Court vide order dated 24.11.2008, the operative portion of which reads as under: In that view of the matter, we are of the opinion that no interference is called for as far as the impugned judgment and decree is concerned, save and except to record that nothing stated in the impugned judgment and decree dated 3.3.2003 pertaining to the issues of title would be construed as binding between the parties; needless to state the title dispute would be adjudicated in the suit filed by the appellant by the learned Judge who is seized of the suit as per evidence before the learned Judge and law applicable. 11. In the meanwhile, Surat Singh, one of the brothers of appellant No.2, filed another suit for injunction against the Corporation and the DDA. He claimed that he is the co-owner of land measuring 1200 square yards forming part of khasra No. 1674, village Kishangarh. He pleaded that the premises were surrounded by a boundary wall and till January 1991 the same were being used for tethering cattle by one Ved Prakash. He alleged that on 29.2.1992, the officials of the defendants came to the suit land with large police force and illegally demolished nu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... cessors of the appellant had become a `Bhumidar' in respect of the suit land on coming into force of the DLR Act. A notification dated 3.6.1977 was issued by the government under Section 507 of the DMC Act whereby, the area of Kishan Garh in the revenue estate of Mehrauli was urbanized, consequently in accordance with the provisions of Section 150(3) of DLR Act, the land which had vested in Gaon Sabha came to vest in the Central Government on urbanization of the village. The Central Government, vide notification under Section 22(1) of the DD Act Dated 20.8.1974 (Ex DW1/1) had placed the entire land which had vested in the Central Government, on the urbanization of the village specified in the schedule, at the disposal of the DDA for the purpose of development and maintenance of the said land. Therefore, all land, including the suit land which had vested in Gaon Sabha, came to vest in the Central Government and was ultimately placed at the disposal of the DDA. 13. During the pendency of the aforementioned two suits, appellant No.1 which is said to have been incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956 in 1994-95 with Harbir Singh Khatri another son of Lal Chand as its M ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... e to the court with clean hands and are not entitled to the equitable relief of injunction as stated in para VI of the preliminary objections? 6. Whether the suit land is a government land was placed at the disposal of the DDA under Section 22(1) of the DDA vide notification dated 20.08.1974? 7. Relief. 16. On a comprehensive analysis of the pleadings and evidence of the parties, the trial Court held that the plaintiffs (appellants herein) have succeeded in showing that appellant No.2 and his brothers had purchased land comprised in khasra Nos. 2728/1674/2 and 2728/1674/3, but they could not prove that the land on which appellant No.1 was running `Sahara Restaurant' is a part of those khasra numbers or that they were otherwise in lawful possession of the suit land. The trial Court then held that the suit was barred by time because cause of action had accrued 16 years ago when the suit land was transferred to the DDA. The trial Court also held that the appellants had not approached the Court with clean hands inasmuch as they suppressed material facts relating to the vesting of the suit land in the Central Government and transfer thereof to the DDA and the documents lik ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r of the DDA. In support of this argument, Shri Rohtagi relied upon the judgment of this Court in Rukhmabai v. Lala Laxminarayan (1960) 2 SCR 253. 19. Shri Harin P. Raval, learned Additional Solicitor General and Shri Amarendra Sharan, learned senior counsel appearing for the DDA argued that the concurrent finding recorded by the trial Court and the High Court that land on which the appellants were running a restaurant does not form part of khasra Nos. 2728/1674/2 and 2728/1674/3 is a pure finding of fact based on correct analysis of the pleadings of the parties and evidence produced by them and the same does not call for interference under Article 136 of the Constitution. Shri Sharan submitted that the suit filed by the appellants for declaration of title and injunction was rightly dismissed by the trial Court because they had not produced any evidence to prove that the suit land forms part of land purchased by appellant No.2 and his brothers. Shri Sharan then argued that the suit filed in the year 2000 was barred by limitation because the cause of action had accrued to the appellants on 10.8.1990 when the officials of the Corporation and the DDA are said to have visited the su ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... edule. Six years When the right to sue accrues. 24. The differences which are discernible from the language of the above reproduced two articles are: (i) The period of limitation prescribed under Article 120 of the 1908 Act was six years whereas the period of limitation prescribed under the 1963 Act is three years and, (ii) Under Article 120 of the 1908 Act, the period of limitation commenced when the right to sue accrues. As against this, the period prescribed under Article 58 begins to run when the right to sue first accrues. 25. Article 120 of the 1908 Act was interpreted by the Judicial Committee in Mt. Bolo v. Mt. Koklan AIR 1930 PC 270 and it was held: There can be no `right to sue' until there is an accrual of the right asserted in the suit and its infringement, or at least, a clear or unequivocal threat to infringe that right, by the defendant against whom the suit is instituted. 26. The same view was reiterated in Annamalai Chettiar v. A.M.K.C.T. Muthukaruppan Chettiar (1930) I.L.R. 8 Rang. 645 and Gobinda Narayan Singh v. Sham Lal Singh (1930-31) L.R. 58 I.A. 125. In Rukhmabai v. Laxminarayan ( ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... er the suit land despite the receipt of copy of the written statement filed on behalf of the DDA in December, 1990. Therefore, the cause of action will be deemed to have accrued to the appellants in December, 1990 and the suit filed on 14.2.2000 was clearly barred by time. 29. The issue deserves to be considered from another angle. Although, paragraph 19 of Suit No. 303/2000 was cleverly drafted to convey an impression that the right to sue accrued to the appellants in November/December, 1998 when they learnt about the wrong recording of entries in Khasra Girdawris/Revenue Records, but if the averments contained in that paragraph are read in conjunction with the pleadings of the earlier suits, falsity of the appellants' claim that the cause of action accrued to them in November/December, 1998 is established beyond any doubt. In the first suit filed by him, appellant No.2-Lal Chand had pleaded that the cause of action accrued on 10.8.1990 when the officials of the respondents came to the suit premises and threatened to demolish the same. In the second suit filed by Surat Singh (brother of appellant No.2-Lal Chand), it was claimed that the cause of action accrued on 29.2.1992 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... that the plaintiff had wrongly and unauthorizedly occupied the land and constructed the boundary wall alongwith three temporary room which construction was unauthorized and it was denied that the suit property existed for the last 16 years. It is further evident from the said judgment that after the plaintiff filed the replication continuing the aforesaid issue were framed by the Ld. Civil Judge on 11.03.1997. This being so, it is unbelievable that the date of knowledge by the plaintiff was of Nov-Dec, 1998. Rather the plaintiffs were fully aware of the land being at the disposal of the DDA from the proceeding in suit No.211/02/90 when the DDA filed its written statement when the limitation started to run more so as the plaintiff No.2 had also filed replication continuing the aforesaid and therefore as per the provisions of the limitation act, Article 58 of the schedule, challenging to the same should have been made within the period of limitation which is within 3 years from the date of knowledge and limitation which has started running, it is not extended by the plaintiff by obtaining certified copy or by giving notice to the defendants. This suit which has been filed only on 11 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ant preliminary objection taken therein the written statement is as under; That the suit as filed is false, frivolous and not maintainable. The plaintiff has no legal right to file the present suit. The land forms a part of Khasra no. 1674 of Village- Mehrauli. This land belong to the Gram Sabha and on the urbanization of village Mehrauli, all the Gram Sabha land vested in the Central Government, later transferred this land at the disposal of the defendant DDA vide notification No. S.O. 2190 dated 208-1974. Therefore, it is clear that the plaintiff has no right, title or interest in the property. In this view of the matter, this suit may be dismissed. 43. It is also contended that second suit was filed by Surat Singh, one of the co-owners. That was again a Suit for Injunction, which was dismissed and against this, an appeal (No. RCA No. 29/2004) was preferred before Additional District Judge on 5th August 2004 and same was also dismissed. 44. The appellate court, while dismissing the suit of Surat Singh, referred to the pleadings made in the plaint, That on 29-2-1992, police officials along with the officials of DDA visited the site and proceeded to demolish inter alia ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... 2728/1674/3 of which the plaintiff No.2 and his brother are stated to be the owners. That the DDA has placed on record the complete area location plan Ex.D2W1/4 to which there is no rebuttal. Only simply suggestion has been given to the witness of the defendant that the aforesaid plan is incorrect but the plaintiff has not placed on record any other alternative plan which according to him, is according to plan, therefore, in these circumstances I find no reason to discard the aforesaid documents which shows that Sahara Restaurant has been constructed in front of the community centre No.1, Nursery School No.2 and Group Housing Janta Flats - 952 on the road and is shown to be away from abadi of village Kishangarh, Mehrauli, New Delhi. Annexure-A of the award Ex.PW4/1 shows that Khasra No.2728/1674 falls in old abadi of village Kishangarh and in these circumstances it is not possible to believe that the aforesaid khasra No.2728/1674 would be located away from the main village abadi. There it appears that the plaintiff has deliberately tried to create confusion with regard to the khasra No.2728/1674 and as admitted, to show that the land on which the Sahara Restaurant is constructe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... land on which Sahara Restaurant has been constructed is situated away from the Abadi which according to Dx.D2W1/4 is constructed on the road in front of the Group Housing Janta Flats-952, Nursery School-II and community center-I. It is unbelievable that khasra No.2728/1674 which falls in old village abadi can be situated away from the said award. Fourthly, in the earlier suit filed by the plaintiff No.2 in the year 1990 before Ld. Civil Judge the plaintiff No.2 had claimed that he is in possession of two rooms and tin shed which he is using for residential purpose and no explanation is forthcoming as to how this huge construction of a big restaurant was made which is being used by the plaintiff No.1 for commercial purposes. It is evident from the order dated 24.11.2008 in RFA No.651/03 that the High Court was apprised of the earlier report of the local commissioner in suit No.211/02/90 and the large scale construction raised by the plaintiff over the said land despite the status quo order without the sanction of the municipal authority. Even otherwise no permission can be granted by the DDA for any been uncontroverted by the plaintiff, has constructed restaurant by encroaching upon ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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