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Ajay Singh v. Khacheru and Ors.

Civil Appeal · 2025 INSC 9Decided 2 Jan 2025
C.A. No.-004297-004298 - 2025 (arising out of SLP (Civil) Nos. 34407-34408 of 2013)
Justice C.T. Ravikumar · Justice Sanjay Karol

Background

A parcel of land in Ghaziabad district, recorded as a "Johad" (village pond) in 1970 revenue records and used by villagers to water their cattle, became the subject of a dispute when the respondent, Khacheru, claimed ownership over it in 2003 based on an alleged land grant (patta) from 1981-82. The appellant, Ajay Singh, challenged this before revenue authorities, who found the patta and related revenue entries to be fictitious (the actual allotment register showed an entry from 1978-79, not 1981), cancelled the patta, and this finding was upheld on revision. The appellant had also separately obtained a civil court injunction protecting the land's use as a pond, but the Allahabad High Court later overturned the revenue authorities' findings in a writ petition, holding the land had been mistakenly recorded as a pond and was actually "Usar" (barren) land.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that the High Court, exercising its supervisory/writ jurisdiction, was wrong to disturb the concurrent factual findings of the revenue authorities (the Additional District Magistrate/Collector and the Additional Commissioner) that had specifically examined and rejected the respondent's claimed patta as fictitious. It further held that the High Court erred in casually treating a separately-obtained permanent civil court injunction (protecting the villagers' right to use the land as a pond) as having become "automatically ineffective" merely because one administrative order was set aside. The Court stressed that a permanent injunction, issued after independent judicial consideration, is "an order of substance" that cannot be undone so casually. The appeal was allowed, the High Court's judgment was set aside, and the findings that the land was a Johad (pond) were restored.

Lesson Learnt

Courts exercising supervisory or writ jurisdiction should be slow to overturn concurrent factual findings reached by specialized revenue authorities after due inquiry, and a validly obtained civil court injunction cannot be treated as automatically nullified just because a related administrative order is separately set aside.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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