Narendra Kumar Mittal & Ors. v. M/S Nupur Housing Development Pvt. Ltd. & Anr.
Background
A private company had purchased certain land in Gautam Budh Nagar, U.P. under sale deeds from 1998 and applied to have its name recorded in revenue records. While that application was pending, it discovered the original seller had also executed later sale deeds (in 2006) for the same land in favour of other buyers. The company sued in the civil court for cancellation of these later sale deeds and for an injunction protecting its possession. The buyers under the later deeds argued the civil suit was not maintainable and that only the Revenue Court (under Section 331 of the U.P. Zamindari Abolition and Land Reforms Act) could hear the matter; both the trial court and the Allahabad High Court rejected that objection.
Decision Breakdown
The Supreme Court held that a plaintiff who already holds title under earlier sale deeds, and who is challenging later, allegedly fraudulent sale deeds executed over the same property, does not need a declaration of title from the Revenue Court: such a plaintiff's title is not "under cloud" and a civil suit for cancellation of the later deeds is maintainable. The Court distinguished a precedent relied on by the appellants (Kamla Prasad v. Kishna Kant Pathak), noting that case involved a co-owner without exclusive recorded title, which has no application here. Finding no merit in the appeal, the Court dismissed it, and dismissed a connected, legally identical appeal (Civil Appeal No. 5980/2019) on the same reasoning, with no order as to costs.
Lesson Learnt
A buyer who already holds valid title documents for land does not have to go through the Revenue Court to protect that title against a later, conflicting sale by the same seller: an ordinary civil suit for cancellation of the fraudulent deed is the correct and available remedy.