Encroachment of govt land an 'ill that plagues civil litigation', says HC

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Wednesday said that it is incumbent on the Trial Courts to consider the maintainability of suits at the initial stage so as to ensure that long delays do not take place, especially in respect of government land, the LiveLaw reported.

Justice Pratibha M Singh dismissed a second appeal challenging a single Judge's order against possession of the Appellants of a government land.

It was the case of the plaintiffs (Appellants herein) that they were in possession of the suit property situated in revenue estate of Humayunpur since the time of their forefathers. The original suit was filed against the DDA on the ground that on 8th May, 1984, DDA had threatened to demolish the construction of the house and asked the Plaintiffs to hand over the possession of the same.

It was the case of the DDA that the Plaintiffs were illegally occupying a horticulture park in the revenue estate of Village Humayunpur, which had already been acquired by the Union of India and was placed at the disposal of DDA.

Accordingly, DDA alleged that the Plaintiffs had no right, title and interest in the suit property and the intention of the Plaintiffs was only to grab DDA's land by unauthorizedly constructing their house on the same. Calling it another example of the "ills that plague civil litigation in respect of government acquired land"