A citizen’s right to own private property is a human right. The state can't take hold of it without following due procedure & authority of law, the Apex Court has held in a Judgment.

The Top Court said that the state can't trespass into the private property of a citizen & then claim ownership of the land in the name of ‘adverse possession'.

Grabbing private land & then alleging it as its own makes the state an encroacher.

In a welfare state, right to property is a human right, a Bench of Justices Indu Malhotra & Ajay Rastogi declared in their Jan 8 verdict.

Adverse possession
“A welfare state cannot be permitted to take the plea of adverse possession, which allows a trespasser i.e. a person guilty of a tort, or even a crime, to gain legal title over such property for over 12 years. The State cannot be permitted to perfect its title over the land by invoking the doctrine of adverse possession to grab the property of its own citizens,” Justice Malhotra, who authored the judgment, laid down the law.

Yet, this is exactly what happened 52 years ago with Vidya Devi, a widow. The Govt. of Himachal Pradesh Govt forcibly took over her four acres at Hamipur district to build a road in 1967.

Justice Indu Malhotra highlights how the state took advantage of Ms. Devi’s illiteracy & failed to pay her compensation for 52 years.

“The appellant [Ms. Devi] being an illiterate widow, coming from a rural background, was wholly unaware of her rights & entitlement in law, & did not file any proceedings for compensation of the land compulsorily taken over by the state,” Justice Indu Malhotra empathised with Ms. Devi, who is 80 years old now.

Moves HC
Ms. Devi first learnt about her right for compensation in 2010 from her neighbours who had also lost their property to the road. Then, in her 70s, she did not lose time to march straight to the Himachal Pradesh High Court, accompanied by her daughter, to join her neighbours in their fight against the state. But the High Court directed her to file a civil suit in the lower court. Disappointed, Ms. Devi moved the Top Court.

Directing the state to pay her ₹1 crore in compensation, the Supreme Court noted that in 1967, when the government forcibly took over Ms. Devi’s land, ‘right to private property was still a fundamental right’ under Article 31 of the Constitution.

Property ceased to be a fundamental right with the 44th Constitution Amendment in 1978. Nevertheless, Article 300A required the state to follow due procedure & authority of law to deprive a person of his or her private property, the Apex Court reminded the Govtt.

Citation: 2020 Latest Caselaw 17 SC, VIDAYA DEVI vs. STATE OF HIMACHAL PRADESH

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