Declaration of title

sangeetha you have not furnished the complete details such as whether he had title of the property and proof of possession that is patta. If you have these two things you need not knock the doors of courts.courts will deliver favourable verdict only if you have valid title.Those two people cannot claim right over your property if they do not have valid documents to substantiate their claim.  Assuming your father had imperfect title then  it could be perfected by adverse possession and regular payment of land tax as he has been holding the place for last forty years.

 The relief of injunction can only be granted to a person who is an owner or who is possession of the property by virtue of either a license or by tenancy or on basis of possessory title, sbject to the fact that It again depends against whom such injunction is being sought. A person can protect his possession if he claims injunction by was of possessory title. A declaration as to title or status/ locus standi of the party is necessary before granting any relief of injunction by a court, such declaration may be incidental to a suit of injunction but technically speaking it has to be there. You have not clarified your capacity in which you are seeking injunction, i.e. whether you are the owner of the property or not. You have also not clarified as to who this property belongs to and in what capacity these 2 people were troubling you. If these 2 people are not the owners of the land then you can protect your possession against them, even if they are the owners of the property you can protect your possession by seeking relief of injunction that you should not be evicted otherwise than following due process of law, if you prove your possession by documentary evidence. Even a trespasser can protect his possession against the whole of the world but not against the true owner. however more on that later.

Mr. Ashish, very well articulated. I had a follow up question as to application for injunction by a illegal trespasser. Can a trespasser after dispossessing the title holder get injunction from the court ?

 

We have ration card, name of electoral roll, voter identity card, bank statements and other things in proof of our possession. My name has been registered in the MCD school of 1979 along with my address. My father was residing with his uncle and after him he is the sole possessor of his land, he never bothered to have another proof of residence as he was a hand-to-mouth person. Out of these two persons one was claiming to be the original owner and the other one who is an illegal builder was claiming that he has bought the land from its original owner. That 2nd person also lodged a complaint in police station to this effect, the copy of which, we have got through RTI. Police was also acting in connivance of that illegal builder. In Court also first person claimed that he is the owner of the land but he could not show the legibile documents of his property stating that he does not have legible papers. Four opportunities were given to him but he could not provided legible documents and at last he did not appeared in court and declared ex-parte by Hon'ble Court. 2nd person also refused to have any connection with suit property in his WS but he supported the first one in his every claim. He always pleaded to the Hon’ble judge to remove him from the case as he does not have any connection with suit property. But the judge herself noted that nowhere in writing in his WS, he has stated that he has not connection with the suit property. So she dismissed his plea. Now we have filed replication alongwith which we have given the copy of 2nd persons’s police complaint in which he was claiming to be owner. Now this person is also not appearing in court for last two dates. Now our advocate is stating to file the suit for declaration of title. I do not want to file this suit till the first case of permanent injunction is decided as I do not have so much money. I want to fight one case at one time. Please guide what should I do.

Anz in certain cases yes, il give u an example, if i am in possession of a property say for the period of 12 yrs or more and i claim that i have perfected my title by way of adverse possession and the real owner files a suit for my eviction then till such suit is decided i can apply for a counter claim and an interim injunction restraining the real owner from selling the property to someone else or creating any third party interest, if in case the real owner looses and i am able to prove all the elements of adverse possession then in such suit i can even get a decree of injunction. however if i recollect correctly article 65 can be used mostly as a defence, however as per latest views of honble sc this article ought to be deleted, more on that later.

sangeeta i think u may have a  good case, it seems u have enough documents to prove ur long held possession, make sure that your advocate files all of these documents in original before the court before the issues are framed, what these will do will show your possession on the property, now since the suit has proceeded exparte the defendants would not be able to adduce evidence oral or documentary, only cross examine you or argue or point out flaws in your suit thats all period. Now since your evidence shall go un rebutted the court shall have no option but to treat your evidence and pleadings as gospel truth, subject to the fact that these guys have not led any evidence which proves their title, which u have said that they havent so you are covered there. Now i dont think you need to file a seperate suit for declaration,just seek injunction simplicitor against the defendants that they should not disturb your peaceful possession, an incidental finding would suffice in your case would be based on your possessory rights which your opponents would not be able challange or rebut. dont let the defendant remove his name from the array of parties, make use of his admission in your favor that he is not connected to the suit property in any way, once he is out of the way the other remaining defendant against who the court has already proceeded exparte would not be able to do anything substantial, i think u should get it without much trouble. i would further advise you not to seek for declaration at this juncture, let them open up all their cards, what if you are not able to get a declaration then you would have a failed suit as a liability and something to explain too which these guys might use in their favor. what i think is that these defendants are trying to make up a false case because they have an eye on your property and they know that the real owner is not in picture. I hope i have provided u with a rough idea, my english isnt so good and moreover there is only so much which one can type lolz any way best of luck.

I would like to ask one more question that we submitted some documtnerts with our suit.  in response defendants produced their Writtern statement.  In response to those Writtern statements, we have submitted the RTI information received from Delhi Police along with the complaint of Defendant no. 2 where he was claiming to be the owner of my house.  but now in the Court he is verbally stating that he has nothing to do with our property and he should be removed from that case.  But this plea of his was dismissed by the Judge as she noticed that nowhere in his WS he has given this statement in writing.

We also submitted some other documents which are relevant to prove our possession iwth our replication.  But the advocate for Defendant no.2 objected for the same as he stated that permission from judge was not taken to submit those documents so the same should not be accepted.  the judge on the cost of Rs.800/- has accepted those documents but she did not considered those documents for taking decision under Section 39(1) & (2).

My query is that our advocate had enought time to take permission from the judge to submit more documents but he did not took the permission in time, niether he told me about that, though he is a very seniour advocate.  this is a major technical mistake made by him due to which the stay order issued to us was vacated by the judge as she did not considered other documents.  my advocate also does not appeared in many dates aslo he did not argued properly for stay whereas it was a very important argument process.  he could plead properly, rather he did not attracted judge's attention towards the information received by us under RTI form Delhi Police.

From the above, I think my advoate is not fighting the case propertly and I should change him.  Please give suggestions. whther I should change him