The Supreme Court on Tuesday said allowing the State
to appropriate private property through adverse possession would undermine the
constitutional rights of citizens and erode public trust in the government.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale
dismissed an appeal of the Haryana government challenging the Punjab and
Haryana High Court order restoring the possession of land to a private party in
which the state's Public Works Department (PWD) has staked its claim.
"We find no merit in the appellants'
contentions. The high court's judgement is based on sound legal principles and
correct appreciation of evidence. The plaintiffs (private party) have
established their ownership of the suit property, and the State cannot claim
adverse possession against its own citizens," it said.
The dispute pertains to land in Bahadurgarh at
Haryana located on the National Highway, which connects Delhi and Bahadurgarh.
The bench relied on the entries of the revenue
records which established the ownership of the land in favour of the private
party.
"Allowing the State to appropriate private
property through adverse possession would undermine the constitutional rights
of citizens and erode public trust in the government. Therefore, the
appellants' (state government) plea of adverse possession is untenable in
law," the bench said.
The top court said the revenue records are public
documents maintained by government officials in the regular course of duties
and carry a presumption of correctness under the Indian Evidence Act of 1872.
"While it is true that revenue entries do not
by themselves confer title, they are admissible as evidence of possession and
can support a claim of ownership when corroborated by other evidence," it
said.
Haryana and its PWD had earlier claimed that they
had been in continuous and uninterrupted possession of the land in question for
decades and they had become owners by way of adverse possession.