New Delhi, 8 February 2025: A land dispute case that remained unresolved for 66 years has been dismissed by a city court, which ruled that it was not maintainable in its present form. The original petitioner and defendants had long passed away, leaving the legal battle over land in Delhi’s Basai Darapur area without resolution.
Civil Judge Kapil Gupta, in his order dated February 3, noted that plaintiff Mohan Lal had filed the suit in 1959, seeking a mandatory injunction against property developers for allegedly interfering with his land without consent. The plea contended that the developers had included his property in the layout plan for Mansarovar Garden Colony without approval and submitted it to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in 1957.
“The defendants are engaged in the business of selling urban plots and are holding themselves out as proprietors of Mansarovar Garden situated at Najafgarh Road,” the court stated in its order. However, it ruled that the case could not proceed as the plaintiff had not sought relief of possession, only an injunction.
Amit Kumar, counsel for the defendants, argued that the colony had already been developed, making the request to restrain the developers irrelevant. “The suit property, measuring 12 bighas, is now part of an established colony, rendering the original claim infructuous,” he said.
Despite the dismissal, Kumar noted that the legal battle might not be over, as an appeal could still be filed in a higher court.
